Anyway last Friday 30th May, two teams set to face their most important event after battling out for the top spot in the league since the beginning of the season last October. After a whole season (read: academic year) of ups and downs, it has finally come to the day: The KBU Cup Final, which the winner will win the coveted KBU Cup.
Entering the finals will be two teams from the same country (read: faculty of design), which are Team IAD and Team GD.
Team IAD is fully prepared with the new red kit, 2 training sessions before the match and without any injured players, except for a certain Maldivian guy who let the aeroplane fly (figuratively and literally) as he forgets about the match and packs his bag to go back to Maldives.
Team GD is, err.. Apparently their side has slightly more players who let the aeroplane fly so they came with one less member. And apparently their kit manager mistakenly sent their kit to Botswana so they have to make do with their own T-shirts.
Team IAD has the respected Leonard Chung as captain! The captain armband was stolen by a chipmunk moments before the match started so we have to replace it with masking tape.
With the match about to begin, the teams lay out their formation. Since GD has one less player, the generous IAD team agreed to loan Swee Chuan to them (which they later regret as he's a trumph card) since he forgets his kit and is wearing an Arsenal FC shirt.
The final teams are:
IAD: Chia How aka Robert aka Adrian (GK), Leonard Chung (C), Ryan Cheah, Kent Lai, Keith Looi.
GD: Kit (GK), Albert Lee (C), Ignatius Andy, U May, Lam.
Ryan doing some finishing touches to the modification of Swee Chuan's boots.
The match kicks off! Early in the 1st half, GD was leading through an own goal by Kent. And then after abandoning his boots because the sole is falling off, Swee Chuan went on to score a brace (that's 2 goals!) barefooted! IAD keep attacking but somehow the luck wasn't on their side. Another goal from Lam and better defending from GD makes the 1st half end in a 4-0 scoreline.
Captain Leonard doesn't want to give up! He manages to buy back Swee Chuan by luring him with a deal consisting of a can of Justea he bought during halftime. Seen here is the skipper (note: its captain in footie terms) bending it like Beckham!
Second half commences! With Swee Chuan back in the team, Team IAD possesses a breath of fresh air in the attacking arsenal. Still barefooted and wearing the Arsenal shirt, he went on and scored another brace, including a header which he converts from Ryan's cross, giving the keeper no chance! Ryan and Leonard also managed to score a goal each, hence making an unbelievable comeback for Team IAD.. The scoreline at full time: 4-4!
Seen here is Keith (blue shorts) with his trademark kung fu kick!
With the final tied at a draw, it is all down to the penalties to decide the winner of this thrilling 8-goal affair. While the players discusses their strategies, the spectators waited anxiously for the shootout to begin. The match host announces the attendance of the KBU Cup Final: 4 people! Seen here are 2 of them, the other 2 went to buy some snacks maybe.
The shootout commence! Each team will take 5 penalties, if at the end of them not a winner is decided, then it'll go into extra time. What happened was each team only missed one penalty, which gives a 4-4 scoreline of the shootout.
As the penalty shootout went into sudden death, the match intensifies. IAD scored another goal, which means GD must convert to keep them in the match. However, Lum steps on and he missed, sending the IAD players into a frenzy!
The newly crowned KBU Cup Champions Team IAD received their match winning trophy for their incredible comeback.
Keith starts the celebration by splashing the champagne in the cup (read: plain water) around!
Seen here is spectator-turn-photographer Cathy helping Team IAD to snap the winning photo with their trophy.
In the end, the game is the winner as no foul plays occurred (although plenty of Cantonese foul words) and everyone played with the biggest heart. The match also bonded the players from both teams, and it served as the perfect ending to a dramatic season.
Until then, we shall see you guys again when the new season starts on the 22nd September.
