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Sports Department: SHSID U13 Boys’Football Take 2nd at NACIS Tournament

December 4, 2020

The SHSID U13 boys’ football team was excited to finally take part in their first tournament of the season on November 28 at NACIS. The team had been training very well and consistently since the start of the school year and were keen to put all that effort into practice.

SHSID were drawn in Group A along with LWS, SCL, and tournament hosts NACIS. The team’s hard work on the training pitch shined through during their three matches in the group phase of the tournament, the first of which saw them come out 9-0 winners over LWS. Right midfielder Scott Chen and left midfielder John Hwang scored early on, striker and captain Joshua Choi netted a hat-trick, whilst central midfielder Iain Davidson controlled the game well from the middle of the pitch. This really set the tone of how the team would continue in their next few games.

The second group match was a much closer affair in which SHSID beat NACIS 1-0. This was a really closely contested match against a strong and well-organized NACIS side, and the team was very satisfied with the hard-earned victory, especially as they had lost to NACIS 1-0 the previous season. After Joshua Choi produced a tidy finish early in the game to convert a nice chance created by Scott Chen, the team showed how disciplined they could be. That is not to say that they didn’t continue to attack as SHSID had had the majority of chances in the game, but the team pressed well from the front to contain NACIS for most of the match, and defenders DJ Hua and Aichen Zhuang were solid at the back throughout, allowing NACIS very few chances.

SHSID had ensured that they finished top of Group A with a convincing 8-0 victory over SCL. All nine players put in fantastic performances, with Suyogya Pudasaini scoring two goals from his left midfield position, and Andrew Liu keeping the ship steady in central midfield. Goalkeeper Eric Chen made a couple of strong saves, ensuring he kept clean sheets in each of the three group games.

Onto the semi-finals, with that top of the group finish meaning the team would play the second placed finisher from Group B, YK Pao. YK Pao is a well-respected side, and so a strong start to the game would be important in calming the nerves amongst the SHSID players. Led by Captain Choi, that is exactly what the team provided, scoring four goals in the opening four minutes of the match. Choi again netted three, but this was another fantastic team performance with every player contributing, whether that was with goals, assists, or solid defensive work. The early lead proved too much for YK Pao to come back from, with the game later finishing 8-2, meaning SHSID had earned their place in the final.

The final saw a rematch between NACIS and SHSID. NACIS finished second in Group A, and won their resulting semi-final against SUIS JK 3-1. When the SHSID players found out that they would have to beat NACIS twice in one day to be crowned champions, the atmosphere grew tense. This, they knew, would be a good challenge.

SHSID started the stronger of the two teams, with a good 5 minutes of pressure on the NACIS goal. However, this time they could not quite find a way to convert the chances they continued to create, in part due to the organization of the NACIS defense. The game was tight, with not much to separate the two teams, until NACIS’ central midfielder rose well and produced a fantastic header to get past Eric Chen from a corner just after the halfway point of the match. Whilst this was one of only a few chances created by NACIS, it proved to be the decisive one with NACIS seeing out the rest of the game which ended 1-0. NACIS had won the tournament on their home turf, with SHSID finishing as the runners up.

Whilst the players were disappointed to lose out in the final by a very narrow margin, every member of the team performed fantastically well over the course of the tournament, and the togetherness of the squad was clear to see. The performances they produced are very promising for the future of this group of players.

Well done, SHSID U13 Boys!

Squad:

Eric Chen, DJ Hua, Aichen Zhuang, John Hwang, Iain Davidson, Scott Chen, Suyogya Pudasaini, Andrew Liu, Joshua Choi (c)

(Written by Olis Pictures by Olis)