Last Saturday 10th December 2011, was the EPL supporters club futsal tournament. I was selected to represent the Malaysia Spurs futsal team. This event is arranged by the EPL official supporters clubs in Malaysia. Five team participated in this event - Spurs, Newcastle, Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal. To my surprise, Chelsea, Man City and Blackburn were missing.
The Spurs contingent was merry as ever, similar to the Newcastle crowd. Arsenal were pretty much quiet while Liverpool and Man Utd as expected had a large following. All teams kept a friendly banter among each other, but it was nice to see Spurs and Newcastle getting along really well. I believe this is due to the fact we invited Newcastle fans to come watch the Newcastle-Spurs game at our home viewing joint a couple of months back. Safe to say we became good friends since then. Also due to the similarity that our fan-base is loyal unlike glory-hunters who support red teams or whoever is winning or whoever is richer.
The Spurs squad consisted mostly of experienced players, while other teams had youth on their side. We had Hisham VP as our goalkeeper, Craig our captain, Hisham Talib, Shahrul, Syazwan, Suria, Sharmel, Ean, Amir, Leonard and myself.
Our first game pitted Spurs against our arch-rivals Arsenal. We lost that game 0-1. Our second game was against Man Utd. Hisham Talib gave us a early lead. Suria scored the second goal which was assisted by me. The win came with a price, our youngest player Syazwan dislocated his shoulder in a collision with a Man Utd player. We lost our 3rd game to Liverpool 0-3. All their goals came in the 2nd half. We controlled the game in the first half. I hit the crossbar after some nice piece of skill and hit the post with a long-range blockbuster. We narrowly lost our last game against Newcastle 1-2. Leonard scored our goal from the penalty spot.
Overall group standings we were 4th, edging Man Utd on goal difference. We were pitted against Newcastle in a game for 3rd place.
The 3rd placing game was a tight affair. I for one had a chance to win. I received the ball in space and fired home a blockbuster which was inches over the bar. The game ended 0-0 and went to penalties. Leonard missed our first kick, which came off the bar. Hisham VP saved Newcastle's first spot attempt. Craig scored our 2nd kick and Newcastle scored theirs. Shahrul scored the 3rd. Newcastle missed their spot kick and we won the shootout 2-1. Good for 3rd place.
The final was between Liverpool and Arsenal, which Liverpool won 5-1.
A good outing for Spurs, being first timers playing in a tournament together.
The Spurs contingent was merry as ever, similar to the Newcastle crowd. Arsenal were pretty much quiet while Liverpool and Man Utd as expected had a large following. All teams kept a friendly banter among each other, but it was nice to see Spurs and Newcastle getting along really well. I believe this is due to the fact we invited Newcastle fans to come watch the Newcastle-Spurs game at our home viewing joint a couple of months back. Safe to say we became good friends since then. Also due to the similarity that our fan-base is loyal unlike glory-hunters who support red teams or whoever is winning or whoever is richer.
The Spurs squad consisted mostly of experienced players, while other teams had youth on their side. We had Hisham VP as our goalkeeper, Craig our captain, Hisham Talib, Shahrul, Syazwan, Suria, Sharmel, Ean, Amir, Leonard and myself.
Our first game pitted Spurs against our arch-rivals Arsenal. We lost that game 0-1. Our second game was against Man Utd. Hisham Talib gave us a early lead. Suria scored the second goal which was assisted by me. The win came with a price, our youngest player Syazwan dislocated his shoulder in a collision with a Man Utd player. We lost our 3rd game to Liverpool 0-3. All their goals came in the 2nd half. We controlled the game in the first half. I hit the crossbar after some nice piece of skill and hit the post with a long-range blockbuster. We narrowly lost our last game against Newcastle 1-2. Leonard scored our goal from the penalty spot.
Overall group standings we were 4th, edging Man Utd on goal difference. We were pitted against Newcastle in a game for 3rd place.
The 3rd placing game was a tight affair. I for one had a chance to win. I received the ball in space and fired home a blockbuster which was inches over the bar. The game ended 0-0 and went to penalties. Leonard missed our first kick, which came off the bar. Hisham VP saved Newcastle's first spot attempt. Craig scored our 2nd kick and Newcastle scored theirs. Shahrul scored the 3rd. Newcastle missed their spot kick and we won the shootout 2-1. Good for 3rd place.
The final was between Liverpool and Arsenal, which Liverpool won 5-1.
A good outing for Spurs, being first timers playing in a tournament together.
standing L-R : Leonard, Craig, Hisham VP, Ean, Feiszal
sitting L-R : Suria, Syazwan, Amir, Shahrul, Hisham Talib
sitting L-R : Suria, Syazwan, Amir, Shahrul, Hisham Talib
