Bloxsara

Liga-A 2005 have officially kicked off. Our first match was against Ansara Jasin. RRI B was the venue. We were the home team. This year, RRI will be our home ground - games where we are the home team (mentioned first, i.e: Muar vs Jasin) will be played in RRI.

It's been a while since I went to RRI. It's changed a bit - they've converted the cricket field to a football field. I think a football field gives them more returns, heheh.

Back to the match. There was a heavy downpour right before the match. I was still at the rendezvous point, in UM, at 4.15PM waiting for the players to arrive. Can't really blame them for being late, they are on motorbikes. So, I waited. Luckily, around 4.20PM, the heavy downpour slowed down to a drizzle and the players started arriving one by one. Joe deserves a special mention here. He braved the heavy rain on his motorbike to arrive in UM from Sentul - drenched to the bone. Hats off to you Joe.

KL traffic post a downpour, I don't need/want to talk about it. However, we still managed to arrive in RRI at 5.00PM. Which field is RRI B? Had to make some phone calls to determine the exact field. There were still no signs of the opponent, and I thought we were late, phewww. We got to the field and the players quickly got into their gears. The opponent was still nowhere to be seen. Oh well, at least we got time to do some warm-up session until they arrive or the referee calls.

I was in the midst of selecting my first 11 when the referee came and asked the team to enter the field. Still no sign of the Jasin players. Then, Najib (Jasin manager) arrived and told me that they'll have to give the game to us (walkover) as his players failed to turn up. The referee then blew his whistle and we got our first three points for the season. I was glad and disappointed. Glad because we now have three points with the walkover. Disappointed because I don't really like winning a match this way.

So, since the players were all there, instead of just going home after the walkover, we decided to play a friendly with the available Jasin players. Thus, instead of playing an official Liga-A match, we ended up playing a friendly match - Muar vs Jasin + Muar.

Liga-A League Match I: Ansara Muar 3 - Ansara Jasin 0 (walkover)

To Najib and Ansara Jasin, thanks and sorry it had to end up this way. However, it's still early in the season, more games to come. As they say, the ball is round.

Our next league match will be on May 21st. We're playing against Ansara Beseri in MARDI B. That's two weeks from today. Note to self and the players - it's the third Saturday of the month. If it rains like today, traffic conditions will be somewhat similar to today. Hoping to see a few more Muar supporters at the game. You game?

The first match of Liga Alumni 2005. Kick off at 5:15PM. Muar is playing against Ansara Jasin. I'll be sending in the player registration in two days. If you'd like to join, email me at kodeexii[at]yahoo[dot]com

Match: Ansara Muar vs Ansara Jasin
Date: Saturday May 7, 2005
Time: 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Location: RRI A

The league schedule can be found at the Liga-A website. Expect to see y'all there!!!

Looking for exMRSM Muarians who wants to play football. I've got an invitation to play on March 23rd, and March 30th. The only requirement - our team must be made up of ex MRSM Muar only. Thus, the current team will need a few additional xMuarians.

So, if you are interested to join the team, get in touch with me by email - kodeexii[at]yahoo[dot]com, by phone or sms - +60123165551.

The game was actually played a few weeks back. Just didn't get the chance to update it in here. So, as most of you would have already known by now. We didn't make it to the Final of Piala Jaya Ansara 2005. Yeah, we lost to Ansara KT, while Anseri managed a draw with Ansara Kuantan.

All we needed to get into the Final was a draw. However, it was KT who played with more vigor at first, and scored their first goal in the early minutes of the game. Cherrud was not available for this game, due to the knee injury suffered against Kuantan. However, we welcomed the reappearance of Bulat, now free from his duties in the Celcom's Inter Varsity Football Tournament. He quickly became a problem for the KT defence with his quick burst of speed and slick ball control.

The players tried as they could till the end, but no matter what they did, they just couldn't get the ball into the KT net. KT added another goal late in the second half and finished off our hopes of getting any points in this game. In the end, Muar 0 - KT 2.

Oh well, we'll have to do better in the league then. Speaking of which, I'm still looking for players. From what I've noticed, some of the readers here are AnsaraMuarians who are in the batches that I've no contact with. Thus if you have contacts of AnsaraMuarians who would like to be a member of the Ansara Muar team in Liga-A, drop me a line at kodeexii[at]yahoo[dot]com.

After the big bang of an introduction in the Piala Jaya Ansara 2005, Ansara Muar went down againts Ansara Kuantan. To make things worse, Ceruud, the forward we highly rely on to get our goals limped out of the game with a knee injury.

It was a game of high intensity. Kuantan, playing their very first game in the tournament, a team known to have brought in highly rated players from around Liga-A. They started the game in attacking mode. The first 10 minues, it was Kuantan who made all the attacking moves. Muar, on the other hand, sat back and tried to absorb all the pressure from Kuantan.

Kuantan's determination to get an early goal proved successful. They were presented with a penalty kick when Muar's last man, brought down Kuantan's striker in the box. After merely 5 minutes into the game, from the penalty spot, Kuantan lead the game. Muar 0 - Kuantan 1.

Taking advantage of their attacking momentum, Kuantan pressed further into Muar's area. However, Muar's defence were able to absorb all of Kuantan's attempts at goal. Muar also made some advances into Kuantan's end of the field. As Kuantan pushed more people into Muar's half of the field, Muar depended on long passes from defense and quick counter attacks to put pressure on the Kuantan defence. Cerrud, Fadhli, Hasrul, and Joe all had chances at levelling the score but somehow missed their target.

Half way thorugh the first half, Kuantan was penalized. They had a player sent off for a red card offense (I don't really know why, though). Thus Kuantan had to play with only 10 men. This, allowed Muar to push into the Kuantan half more often. The score stayed at Muar 0 - Kuantan 1 at half time.

The second half started very much alike to the earlier half. Muar however, gained possession time and made more advances into Kuantan's penalty box. 15 minutes into the half, Muar managed to level the score. Off a throw in from the left, Joe latched onto the ball and unleashed a swerving volley directly towards the goal. The Kuantan goal keeper was left rooted, and was only capable of watching the ball hitting the net. Joe's second for the season. Muar 1 - Kuantan 1.

The game seemed to be destined for a tie. Both teams were not able to find the net with quite a number of missed chances. However, late in the game, perhaps, into the time added on, Muar defensive unit made a huge blunder. They lost the ball a few yards off the penalty box. The blunder presented Kuantan's striker with a one on one situation with Muar's goal keeper. A chance not to be missed by any. Thus, Muar 1 - Kuantan 2.

Up next, will be a match against Ansara KT. The match will be played on February 26th in UKM. This game against KT will be the deciding match. We'll have to win to ensure our passage into the final. So, let's see some support from our fans (do we have any?).