ESPZEN Sunday League Season 20 Division 6
Kamikaze FC vs Royals FC
19/01/2013
1pm Kickoff
Yusof Ishak Secondary
The announcement that came at the end of the match overshadowed most of the proceedings of the match as veteran forward Victor finally announced his retirement from the Senior Squad. While many of his teammates playfully brushed aside his shock announcement, realisation soon sunk in that next season, the team is all set to have a new forward leading the attack. In his announcement, Victor mentioned that he knew that physically his playing time was up.
The first 10 minutes however, almost told a different story. The team controlled possession and routinely took the Royals' defence apart, at will. A brilliant cutback from PratheepMuse found Victor whose first-time shot was just enough to brush past the keeper's hand into the net. Minutes later, Safar bamboozled the defence and found Victor with another cutback and the striker doubled his tally tapping into an empty net. When Safar made a mockery of the entire Royals' backline it looked like a double-digit scoreline was on the cards. But that is when the fairytale ended and reality sunk in.
For all of their attacking potency, Kamikaze are still in need of a clinical striker who takes his chances. The team's poor shots to goals ratio is only masked by the fact that their defence has held steady and they have had truckloads of chances every game. This problem was highlighted in an embarrassing manner as the forwards combined to miss atleast 8 open chances amongst themselves, with only Anand Spaceship and Haravin managing to find the net in the second half sandwiching a Royals' consolation goal.
Team Manager Seelan, admitted as much,
"Our strikers were indeed poor today. But their quality is known to all. Vijay is back after a long layoff and once he gets 2 or 3 games under his belt he will be a totally different monster to handle. We have Hevy coming back in 3 weeks and the team is indeed waiting on the loan return of Rishi and Sasi. Those players have been held up for various reasons, but we are sorting out their transfers and if we do manage to get them, we will be a totally different attacking lineup."
But the moment belonged to Victor who almost managed to roll back the years.
"For the past 10 years, only one name has resonated throughout my weekends and even during the most of my weekdays. Kamikaze. Nothing is going to change that. But we have to be realistic, in accepting that our time is up. Kamikaze is a professionally run amateur team, and every player playing in the team should be contributing his very best. I have given my best to the team thus far, and now it is time for someone else to pick up the mantle on the pitch. I have no regrets. All I'm looking forward to will be to enjoy my final two games before I take up other responsibilities within the set-up. I know my team-mates who have helped me tremendously will give me a fitting farewell. I will look to definitely score a few more for the road."
KAMIKAZE!!!
Squad: Pratip (GK), Dinesh Neshsta, Premnathan, Haravin (c), Karthik Doctor, Gerard, Shivaanan, PratheepMuse, Safar, Victor, Vijay, Kishen, Anand Spaceship, Vishnu
Goals: Victor (2), Safar, Anand Spaceship, Haravin
Assists: PratheepMuse, Safar, Haravin, Victor (2)
Final Score: Kamikaze 6 - 1 Royals
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