Playing in a Foreign Place

Last sunday was the 1st time I played a match for Monash University Soccer Club. Just before you say: Wah! So zai ah! can play for school! Hold your compliments. The soccer club actually has a number of teams, 5 to be exact. And they rank from the most zai to the most chapalang 1.
So i'm actually playing for the 4ths or the 5ths(depending on which team has a lack of players), which are the chapalang teams.

Anyway, the match was an away 1 so we had to travel to the other side of Melbounre. It took me a good 1hour plus before I reached the place. On my way to the pitch, I encountered something familiar. The Marist emblem. I was intrigued. In the end, it turned out to be a college founded by the same founder of Maris Stella back home, St Marcellin Champagnat. The college is named after him - Marcellin College. Took a stroll around the compound of the school and found it to be strikingly similar to MSHS. This sudden and unexpected discovery brought back a surge of nostalgia. How I miss playing with the Marist people in McLucky! We may be chapalang but we sure had fun!

Back to the match... I was allocated the position of centre-back by the coach, ironically a Singaporean who supports Liverpool. It has been a long time since I played that position and I took awhile to get back my defender's instinct. The match started with a welcome bang given to me by the opposing striker. I was chasing to clear a loose ball with the striker, a big fat-ass (bigger than Siu's!) bearing down on me. I got my foot to the ball and the next thing I knew I was flying through the air! What a welcome!

The 1 big difference with the game over here is that it is much more physical. So Kenny's wise old advice of 'use your body!' must always be taken seriously. As the game flowed on, with us having the upper hand most of the times, we took the lead through a deflected goal off a shot by 1 of the midfielders. Half-time ended as that - 1-nil to us.

In the second half, we started more brightly and scored a second. 2-nil and we looked to be cruising. Unfortunately, we conceded a goal with 20min to go with the defence failing to cut off a cross from the wing. This left us with a nervy ending but we managed to pull through and grab a precious victory.

I was satisfied by my own game but there is definitely much more room for improvement. My partner in defence seems to be a much more experienced lao jiao. Someone in the mould of Gareth Southgate. And there are many things to be learnt from him.

my foreign team mates in Monash Uni Soccer Club 4ths and 5ths

I am glad to be playing matches again... At least it reduces the itch in my feet. But somehow it is just not the same as playing with my Mc Lucky team mates. How I miss those weekends! Cannot wait to get back to the pitch with you all...