Story contributed by reader Asyraf. Additional photos by Calvin Kurniawan.
Jalan Besar Stadium, Wednesday, May 21, 2008 – In an highly-anticipated match between two giants, Meridian Junior College managed to clinch their second A Division Football Championship title after beating arch-rivals Victoria Junior College 2-1.
On a hot and bright sunny afternoon, the boys battled furiously against one another, a sign of the rivalry between the two schools. The stadium, which was filled with a capacity crowd of 4000 on match day itself, could clearly be seen divided between a sea of blue and yellow, each horde singing cheers for their beloved team.
Meridian JC shot off to an early lead in the second minute through winger Mahdi Mohamed Ali. The VJC keeper was tested on numerous occasions as MJC kept delivering high balls into the VJC camp.
Not to be outdone, the Victorians came back when Nicholas Kang sent in a teasing cross which evaded a host of onlooking players, only for Chester Lum to fire in a half-volley to equalise. MJC’s custodian, Edmund Wong, got a hand to it but sadly, Chester’s shot was too powerful to be tipped over.
Then came the last goal of the game six minute after the equaliser. Spotting Mahdi dribbling the ball down the left flank while turning his counterpart, Umesh of VJC, inside out, Muhammad Hyder made the run of his life into the box to meet Mahdi’s dangerous cross. Hyder firmly planted the ball into the back of the net to make it 2-1 in favour of MJC, much to the dismay of the VJC backline and goalie. That was enough to send the blue camp into an ecstatic state, as most of them were on their feet hitting their blue and white clappers besides shouting cheers to celebrate the goal. The score remained 2-1 at half time as both team retreated into their respective rooms for a pep-talk.
However, the second half proved to be more exciting as compared to the first, where VJC had much of the possession but couldn’t convert their chances. VJC had more possession as they charged forward on numerous occasions after stroking the ball around from defence and midfield. On the other hand, MJC’s soak and strike tactic could be seen as being quite successful as they led a number of counter
attacks against the VJC defense. On one occasion, MJC’s Daniel Guo (#9), had time to do a couple of stepovers, beating his opponent before unleashing a shot at the VJC goal. His shot managed to get past the VJC keeper but unfortunately for him, he was denied by the woodwork.
Check out the other report on the final.
Ed’s note: If you recognise yourself or your team mate in any of the photos, feel free to leave the names in the comments section and we will update the captions accordingly. Thanks!
The use of the word “minah” offends.
How would you like it if I described chinese girls whose behaviour I disagree with as “vj cheenas”?
If you disagree with a person’s BEHAVIOUR, that’s fine. But don’t pick on a person’s race, especially if you are a part of the majority race. It is callous behaviour.
Everyone’s ethnicity is a birth right that should be respected.
We have always been using the cheer “MJ boleh” for all our soccer matches. And come on, it’s only cheers, which only serve to support our soccer team. :/ Also, minahs isn’t a very good word to use to describe students from (not your school).
Moreover, who’s the best doesnt really matters. What matters most is that our soccer guys have put in alot of effort and winning the game is just a way to prove our ability.
our school song was not played. we just sang. so i don’t expect that mj would know. what i really hated was the mj minahs coming over to scream on our side. and glaring at us when we glanced at them. and mj stole so many of our cheers can? even my fave –VJ boleh:(
but really i have to say this. even Vj ppl know that RJ can practically be considered “the best”.
[…] out the other report on the […]
yeah really sorry vj. we didnt hear the song being played because our side was very noisy and there was no proper announcement that the school songs were going to be played.
for the record, we didn’t know u guys were singing…only a third of the MJ crowd saw and that third still kept quite out of respect…SORRY!!
hello les is there going to be a story on 3rd/4th?
personally, i was really put off by the mjc players with their rowdy behaviour and guesturing at the crowd, including the vjc crowd. not that i being a sore loser, but i dont think they behaved like champions and it was really disappointing when the vjc crowd stood and respected mjc when their anthem was played but we didnt receive the same respect.
coool
hats off to those working hard to produce the reports
There will be another story with more pics.
hey les the report will still be updated and more pics to come up?
that picture wasnt even of the vj game.
it was the players warming down after the semi final vs sajc.
still, thats an epic picture
No problem, Hilmaniaty. If you have more pictures of the game, happy to post them up for you with the proper credit.
Sorry for that then. Thanks for the compliment and the fast change. Greatly appreciated.
The netiquette is that typing in caps is equivalent to shouting.
Thanks for letting us know you took that picture.
It’s the best picture of the lot.
I wasn’t shouting. Just typing in caps. Thank you.
We are not deaf. No need to shout.
What’s the name to credit, Hilmaniaty?
Asyraf provided the photos to us and we assumed the picture was his.
EARTH TO REDSPORTS. The feel the meridian might picture was taken by me. PLEASE RECREDIT. THANK YOU.
Hey, nice article, but I believe the second photo, “Feel the Meridian Might” belongs to my friend Hilma (http://crazywheezy.livejournal.com). I know because I was the one that edited the photo and I still have the originals.
Please re-credit. Thank you.
cool. thanks for the article