The MCC U15 football team were excited to play football competitively once again after a long absence due to Covid-19.
During the year long break, the boys have improved their skills playing intra-house football competitions on Tuesday and Thursday nights after evening Hall. Aston v School House has kept the competitive edge and made sure the boys were not lacking match fitness and skill when it came to this term’s new season.
The boys trained every Monday and Wednesday during CCA time and played matches against each other on Thursday nights from September. This helped create a great team dynamic and gave Malvern an advantage over many opponents as they were able to play cohesively as a team and not a group of individual players.
Training sessions were tough, but benefits started to show when Malvern won their first game of the season with a dominating 8-1 win over BIBS school.
Last week, the boys from Malvern College Chengdu participated in the semi-finals of this league with confidence and rushed to the final. This time, Bob was the captain, Tiger and Rain joined the game as new players.
MCC’s league results meant they were automatically through to the second round and would face another strong team that had confidence from their first-round win. The team tactics were changed in the absence of their main playmaker Siven and the focused turned to strong defense and counter attacks. This was a hard-fought game in the first half with Malvern missing many opportunities to put some distance between the teams. Half time saw some team changes and a switch to a more attacking side. The goal finally came for Malvern through a fine piece of play.
The ball played out from defense to Toby in midfield. Toby carried the ball forward and slipped it past the defense into the path of Bob Song, hungry for his first goal. Bob took a strong shot that left the goalkeeper no chance. The captain broke the deadlock and this goal proved enough to put MCC through to the final. Our strong defense in the hands of Lucas was able to withstand a few final attacks from Leman. 1-0 Malvern and into the final we went.
After a 90-minute break, it was decided that Malvern would face a strong competitor in the final.
This game brought different challenges. Our competitor had some very talented individual players and we were carrying a couple of injuries. The first half was tough for our defense and they dominated the shots on goal.
The team of Jack, Rain, Lucas and Peima produced a gladiator display and kept the ball from crossing our goal on several occasions. MCC looked battered at half time and needed to lift their spirits.
The second half was different, Bob stepped up and controlled the play for the team. A more positive attacking squad finally broke the deadlock when Bob himself put the ball in the back of the net with a huge individual effort. We could feel the cup but needed to withstand a relentless the competitor.
QSI eventually got their reward and equalized against a tired MCC’s defense which led to a 10 minute period of extra time.
Both teams tired and well matched, the advantage for MCC came from an overwhelming parental support. Shouts of encouragement from our dedicated parents and family helped the boys make it to a penalty shootout after a final attacking frenzy from QSI.
It was all down to penalties and the weight of responsibility on our debut goalkeeper Tiger was clear.
Lucas stepped up and scored his first, followed by an equalizer from QSI. Tommy then took the pressure with ease and slotted home a second for Malvern. It was 2-1, advantage MCC.
Tiger done enough to pressure the next QSI striker who hit the post, we now had their lead secured. Bob, the captain fantastic, slotted home his penalty with complete confidence which left a final penalty from QSI as MCC’s chance to secure victory.
Although the winner of the game was in hand, the players did not relax their vigilance. The QSI’s striker hit a powerful penalty but the cheetah like reactions from Tiger saw the save of the tournament and cemented MCC’s place as Champions of U15 football in Chengdu.
Thank you to all the students for their dedication over the last 8 weeks and their resilience in a difficult tournament. Extended thanks to the parents who were like an extra player throughout the day and gave us the confidence we needed to make it over the finish line. The future of football looks bright for MCC as these players progress to the senior team for next season.
Congratulations Champions!!!
Coach Gill and Coach Dan
(The children always kindly call Mr. Neil as Gill)
