On Foreign Imports

Hi children, first of all, good job thrashing my friends 6-3, heard that the team played pretty well. Anyway my vote for player of the year would be KS wheras the biggest blunder surely has to go to Reubs one way or another. We might want to have one more "most number of foul throws". I'm sure everyone knows who is most deserving of that honor hahaha..

Anyway the purpose of this post is to comment on the issue of guest players. It seems like there are imported players featuring in the starting eleven while our own players are sitting out on the bench. If our players are sitting out as a 'punishment' (whether for being late, for missing training, etc.), I think that's fine. But if the reason for playing an imported player in the starting eleven is simply because he appears to be a better player somehow, then I think something is very wrong here. We started out knowing the various strengths and weaknesses of each of our players. There is no reason why anyone should be penalised for their weaknesses now. If anytime a 'better' player appears for 1 or 2 weeks, then we throw our own player out, we might as well not have a team.

Imported players should only be called up in the event we don't have enough core players to fill up a decently-numbered team. And imported players should be turned away even if our own player commits his availablity only one day prior to the match. I see no problem with telling your imported friend you have to play him out because your own keeper decided that he can play at the last minute.

My point is, we are not professionals. We play for leisure, and obviously its more fun when everyone feels belonged to the team. Some say that the team spirit seems to be waning - if any one of the nineteen names listed on the right panel of this blog gets dropped simply because an impressive outsider comes along, what team spirit is there to speak of?

PS: Just some thoughts to share, feel free to drop me for inciting unrest within the 'team'. Haven't been turning up for the past few weeks, so I may be wrong about some 'observations'. Anyway, just a gentle reminder to all - don't let fancy new players distract you from the fact that we still have a core of players zealously waiting to sweat it out for the team week in week out.

Awards Presentation 2007

Biggest win: 6-2 (tamp ave 8)

Biggest loss: 5-1 (greenview sec)

Goal of the year: Poll for yr fave goal

1) alex lim's first goal (Tamp ave 8 against Shangwei's team)
2) Leslie's SUPER ANGLEed shot (tamp ave 8 against KR's friends)
3) Leslie's Leslie's mid air volley (Last match of 2007)

Blunder of year: Poll for yr fave blunder

1) Ah-Seng's FAMOUS INFAMOUS "LET GO" version 1.
2) Ah-Seng's FAMOUS INFAMOUS "LET GO" version 2. (FYI, both versions took place in 1 match!)
3) Reubs "i think i can trap the ball at the goal line" stunt.

Top Scorer: Leslie

Most Improved player: Weirong

Most distance clocked on the field: Duh! isnt it obvious!

Player of the year: Poll for yr fave player of the year

1) KS
2) Leslie
3) JQ


PS: Should there be any objections or additions, pls feel free to make the neccessary changes.

Unido 2 - Dunman High(er) 5

Cloudy weather; @ Tampines Ave 8; Fairly level pitch.
A match where we played with only one sub.(only 10men for first 10mins or so)
And no referee.(someone mentioned he "went hospital?")
Half-time = UNIDO 2 : DH 1
Full Time = UNIDO 2 : DH 5
------

After-match thoughts:
1. In general, we played a calm and controlled game most of the way.(only a few stray passes) D.H. midfield proved to be quite a challenge - allowing only few chances for us through their defence. At times we were out-muscled/outrun but did maintain our composure.

2. Without the luxury of having subs, I guess most of us had to reserve our stamina to try to last the whole game. In the absence of our regulars, our guest-players had to up their game quite a bit to keep pace with the play.

3. Without a neutral referee officiating, it was rather disrupting especially in the cases where we've caught our opponents off-side already only to have to keep pursuing them because no one was around to blow a whistle! >:-#

4. I confess to being de-moralized... especially after failing to intercept the opponents in a few crucial situations. I personally felt responsible for the header and the goal after it.
Argh. :-( Sorry Ruebs.

Some more thoughts...
1. In all our matches so far, we rarely have all the perfect match conditions(weather, pitch, opponents, refreeing). And we've hardly got the time to train together before each match to build understanding, individual technical ability, tactics & etc.

2. But what we do have full control of is the attitude we each bring into every match.
Think about it. Whether we enjoy our game or not, sometimes, rests simply on how we've upheld our team spirit. A favourable score-line makes a difference of course.
Yet, if each of us played our hearts out as a team-player, for the team; with full trust and respect for one another regardless of position, ability or current performance, I think we'll have a good time and win or lose gracefully. We just take whatever comes in our stride.

3. Also, though we might not be able to organize and forecast every match with one/two weeks advanced-notice, let's help those of us who are organising matches out by replying promptly.
Organizers: Hopefully you can receive at least 12 player-confirmations before proceeding to make the bookings.

Our own goal posts?

Guys,

Check this site out. http://www.redyset.com/index.php

Cheers,
SA

UNIDO 5-3 SHAN WEI & Co

We finally won, thanks to goals from Leslie, Ben, Alex the Slack, Zhi Wei and Ah Guan. Keep up the good work, guys! And thanks to Reuben for the morale boosting lobang.

P.S. You'll get your goal soon.

Team Crest

Hi Guys,

I came up with a design for our team. I know it's a little rip off but.... Maybe we can improve on it. Any ideas?

Cheers,
SA

Unido-Blog: Intro & Recruitment

Hey fellow Unido-mates!
This Team-blog is still a work-in-progress.. but you can email me so I can send you a Blog-contributor invitation. You'll be seting up a *Gmail-account in the process before you can start blog-posting with Blogger.

But if you think it's too much hassle to create another email account, you may use the Tagboard to leave messages for each other. Just know that since Tagboard-posting is open to virtually anyone online, leave a recognisable name as you post(so that UNIDO-members know who's who).

Cheers! :-)

* Blogger and Gmail now exist as integrated accounts since Google acquired Blogger; so you can use your existing Gmail account to start posting.
P.S.: Email me using your Gmail for easier blog-contributor set-up :-) Feel free to send your enquiries here too.