gangbang season: first blood - Team SINEP!

today was the day that i've been looking forward to all week. you see, all the ntu old skool dudes have returned from overseas engagements (read: college) to reunite once again. and to celebrate this inaugural event, some douche bag decided to sign us up for the champions of the cage football tournament, well at... the cage.

rendezvoused with the boys in the morning at jurong east mrt and hopped on the train. it smelt like someone had just taken a dump. and to my horror, i was informed that our korean rock in defense, wonil-a.k.a.-charlie-a.k.a.-baboon "ji-sung" park was down with the runs or some shit like that which rendered him immobile and unable to play in the tournament. apparently he couldn't stop shitting and vomiting, and was having a fever.

we sort of joked about how he had the ebola virus and we were laughing so hard that my stomach hurt. and the lady sitting beside me obviously couldn't help herself and joined us in the laughing spaz... laughing is contagious after all.

making our way to the cage

arriving at the cage

Team SINEP chilling out before the game

so the match: after such a long absence from the pitch for all but a couple of the old skool members (akash, sam, sutha, me, dan and mike), we actually did pretty amazing. Team SINEP, that's us, remained unbeaten in the group stages!

we were top of the table with 8 points, from 2 wins and 2 draws for a while before being overtaken by another team with 3 wins and 1 loss. still, i'm pretty damn proud that we were the only unbeaten team in our group, and probably one of the few in the tournament up till that point. so Team SINEP proudly advanced past the group stages! (there were 4 groups of 5 teams each and the top 2 teams of each group advance to knock-out).

the pitch

then came the quarter-finals. we were leading the other team 2 - 0 at about half time (each match was 20 min), and looked all set for an exciting finish to advance to the semis. but somehow, the other team scored a phantom goal with 5 mins to go, which clearly was not a goal because it bounced off the upright. the referee was obviously not on our side.

so being the gentlemen we are, we graciously let it go. then it happened again - the referee called for the goal kick but somehow changed his mind and called for a corner, and amidst the confusion, and the mad scramble that ensued, the other team managed to sneak one past our goalie, for a full-time score of 2 - 2.

the group stages

Team SINEP in blue bibs in the quarters

as it was the knock out stage, a penalty shootout followed. there were to be 3 for each side before it went to sudden death. our goalie (akash) did brilliant to save the first shot, which followed by dan converting the first penalty for us. but then it all went wrong for the 2nd shot. what was clearly an awesome save by our goalie, was ruled by the ref as a goal for the other team.

it was not even funny, the ref was only 3 meters away. he must have been really blind. even the other team knew it wasn't a goal. to cut a long story short, we lost the penalty shootout and bowed out in the most ridiculous of fashions.

final score: Team SINEP 2 - Referee 3.

we could have won that game 3 times over but instead were left to cry like a bitch to our mamas. of course anyone could have argued that shit happens sometimes, but then again, 3 times in 1 match? isn't that kinda shitty? and to make matters worse, i missed the crucial penalty that would have kept us in the game, and dan got sent off right at the end for telling the other team not to yell at the referee.

if there was one expression that could sum up the referee, it is our team name spelt backwards.

but overall i had tonnes of fun today. just seeing some of the looks on the faces of the people we beat - priceless. especially when there were always some dust-ups during the matches because all the members from Team SINEP pretty much grew up with a brand of pretty physical football. and c'mon, being the only team whose name actually means something when spelt backwards, that's pretty sweet isn't it?


highlights of the day:

• star striker dan lund scores in every single fixture of Team SINEP
• goalie akash goel ditches his position and ran the whole length of the pitch to score a sensational goal up front after he calmly collected the ball in his box and then proceeded to dribbling past everyone on the other team
• midfielder/defender mike meguid scores a sensual volley from a corner... SENSUAL
• THE man in defence li "X" xi takes 2 in the face for the team and blocks countless other attempts to ensure Team SINEP went through the group stages without a hitch
  

what a hell of a way to kick off the gangbang season. can't wait for tomorrow night's mayhem at yunan corner!


+listening to: shotgun blues by guns n' roses