The Last Laugh

The mind games were played early. By not registering his players (the reason given was "no internet connection"), Heroes coach Roy Anil had kept Street 51’s players guessing who his star players were. There wasn’t much of a clue but judging by the only two names on their website (Gumutha Peruval and Roy Anil), word around the Street 51 camp had it that they were up against a skilful, aggressive and perhaps vulgar “MAMA” team.

With this in mind, Street 51 had mentally prepared for a physical and abusive challenge throughout the week and just before the game, they were extremely confident of the upcoming challenge. To their horror, instead of the supposed “MAMA” team, Street 51’s players saw before their eyes, an opposing team brimming with young international talent. There were Canadian players, one player who looked to be of Swedish descent, and a few Malays. Street51 had already lost the mind games...

Players looking confident, discussing team tactics.

Even their injured players were laughing the opponents off.


Match Day - Street 51 Manager was shocked to see his opponents. . . Totally not what he had expected. . . YOUNG SKILFUL OPPOSITION

Din, the central defender, was distraught. All the hard training had gone to waste...

No one could focus during the warm up...

All eyes on the young blood of the opposition...

Hisyam had already imagined the worst. . .

With worried faces, no one was looking forward to the challenge ahead. . .

But wait! The manager had other plans. . .

... with the help of his coaching staff, he devised plan B.

The original starting lineup.

Making a tactical masterstoke, he brought on. . .

. . . Shahir! With the manager's faith, he was overjoyed to be involved in the new plans. . .

An angry Hisyam couldn't believe the change. . .

. . . and even threatened to leave the pitch. . .

. . .while others had their doubts over the manager's new tactics. . .

Like it or not, the team had to go ahead with the game. . .

The game went on, and after a shaky start, Street 51 FC got the victory they needed. Picking the ball up from center midfield, Sofian Roslan threaded a beautifully weighted pass to Cassim Munshi on the left. . . Holding the ball up in space, Cassim waited for the arrival of Shaik Hisyam before delicately relaying a pass to him which eluded Heroes FC's offside trap. Hisyam then crossed to Aiman Majid to finish cooly from inside the area. Despite several scares towards the end of the game, Street 51 FC held on for a well deserved three points.

[We apologise for not displaying images of the players in action here so as not to reveal our playing styles to future opponents.]

Street 51 FC had lost the mind games but goalscorer Aiman Majid had the last laugh.