Red Sports’ best XI of A Division boys’ football (or who we would actually pay money to go watch)

By Kenneth Tan/Red Sports

The exciting A Division Football Championship Final last month saw Meridian Junior College edge out St Andrew’s Junior College 2-1.

We started a poll for readers to vote their best A Division football XI back in late March and it closed on May 30 with 1,418 readers taking part.

Since readers had so much fun picking their own XI, we decided to have a go ourselves. Having covered the A Division Football Championship right from the start of the first round, here is our best first eleven from this year’s edition.

Red Sports’ XI (4-4-2)
Goalkeeper: Daniel Adam Lightfoot (MJC)
Defenders: Cheng Guang Fu (SAJC), Darren Hedger (SAJC), Cohen Tan (MJC), Ang Bing Quan (MJC)
Midfielders: Mohd Khair (MJC), Shuvod Rai (VJC), Gregory Noah (SAJC), Dilip Thapa (VJC)
Forwards: Muhammad Nuri (RI), Pradeep Ravichendran (SAJC)

Goalkeeper: Daniel Adam Lightfoot (MJC)
It is hard to decide between Ifwat Wafiy and Daniel Lightfoot to be in goal as both of them conceded only three goals and two goals respectively in the whole tournament. Both of them also can boast of seven shutouts in nine games each.

However, Lightfoot’s sheer physical presence, bravery and safe handling of the ball just edges him ahead in this encounter.

Defenders: Cheng Guang Fu (SAJC), Darren Hedger (SAJC), Cohen Tan (MJC), Ang Bing Quan (MJC)
A modern full back must be able to both defend and attack. SAJC right back Cheng Guang Fu and MJC left back Ang Bing Quan possess such abilities.

Cheng Guang Fu often linked up well with his wingers to maraud down the right flank and make dangerous crosses into the box.

Ang Bing Quan was always looking to venture forward and possessed a sweet left foot as well. He broke the deadlock in the final against SAJC with his teasing inswinging corner that caught out SAJC goalkeeper Lee Shi Tong.

Everyone loves a good old-style, no-nonsense, tough-tackling centre back with a physical presence in the air. SAJC’s Darren Hedger and MJC’s Cohen Tan are both in that same mould.

A strong and towering centre back, Darren Hedger is also capable of accurate intervention at the feet of opposing forwards. His abilities are not limited to defence as his occasional runs out of defence set up many attacks for his team. He also has the ability to strike the ball from long range, as seen in his 50-yard free kick against Anderson Junior College (AJC) in the first round.

MJC captain Cohen Tan’s organisational qualities in defence made the MJC defence a tough nut to crack. He led his defence superbly to repel RI’s aerial bombardment in the semi-final and further denied SAJC in the final late on when MJC were protecting a one-goal lead.

Midfielders: Mohd Khair (MJC), Shuvod Rai (VJC), Gregory Noah (SAJC), Dilip Thapa (VJC)
Wingers often are the crowd pleasers as they possess excellent acceleration and trickery on the ball. MJC’s Mohd Khair and VJC’s Dilip Thapa are two such players.

Mohd Khair’s change of pace is his biggest asset down the flanks with MJC coach Fabio Da Silva allowing him to constantly switch flanks to confuse opposing defences throughout the tournament.

Dilip Thapa is no doubt the biggest revelation of this year’s campaign. He lit up the stage with his superb close control and playmaking skills to anchor VJC’s free flowing style of football. Capable of playing anywhere in the midfield, he is not a particularly fast player but he get past his markers with ease through his superb body feints.

Every team needs a defensive anchorman who can sit in front of the defence and do all the dirty work. VJC’s Shuvod Rai is one such player. To add on to his defensive abilities, he is also capable of linking up with the attack as seen in the third and fourth placing match against RI where he was part of a good attacking triangle with Dilip Thapa and his forward Alfred Ali.

Lastly, to complete the perfect midfield, the team needs the presence of a playmaker to link up with the forwards. SAJC’s Gregory Noah fits the bill perfectly as he was one of the key reasons why SAJC reached their first final in six years. He pulled all the strings in the SAJC midfield with his creativity and superb set-piece delivery from that sweet left foot of his. His late runs into the box also created many openings for his teammates.

Forwards: Muhammad Nuri (RI), Pradeep Ravichendran (SAJC)
If you want to win matches, you need to have forwards who can score goals at will. Leaving out tournament top scorer VJC’s Alfred Ali is a hard decision but RI’s Muhammad Nuri and SAJC’s Pradeep Ravichendran deserve a mention due to their versatility.

RI skipper Muhammad Nuri led the forward line superbly with his physical presence upfront and had he finished with seven goals in the tournament.

It is therefore hard to imagine that he started out as a centre back in his early years. RI coach Kevin Low made the decision to convert him into a centre forward before the tournament to utilise his experience and aggression upfront. It was a masterful decision as Nuri scored a hat-trick in his first game as a forward.

Lanky forward Pradeep Ravichandran joined SAJC via the Direct School Admission (DSA) exercise based on his cricket skills and still managed to excel in another sport.

He led SAJC’s forward line superbly with his hold-up play and brilliant close control. He also possesses a knack of producing cool finishes in front of goal that made him the top scorer of his team with seven goals.

To see readers’ choice for their A Division XI, go to next page