Monday June 25, 2012

Powerful Rangers

By NG WEI LOON
weiloon@thestar.com.my

RANGERS came alive in the closing stages of the recent two-day tournament of Subang Jaya Community Youth Football League (SJCYFL) at the their SMK USJ4 homeground in Subang Jaya .

Despite finishing second in the group after going down narrowly 0-1 to group champions Wizards to advance to the last four, Rangers upstaged the Junior (seven to eight years) division league champions Hobbits for a place in final.

And Rangers, under the care of Redzuan Mohamed Nor, displayed their composure in chalking up a hard-earned victory as they ended the campaign of favourites Hobbits.

Both teams were levelled at 1-1 after full-time in the pulsating encounter before the underdogs Rangers prevailed in the penalty shoot-out.

Even three attempts from each side in the decider also failed to break the stubborn deadlock as the score was still tied at 3-3 with both sides delivering clinical finishes in slotting the goals under pressure.

Way to go: Rangers’ Bryan Kam Wei Yi (centre) linking up a move. — filepic

And Rangers came through after winning the coin-toss and opted to goal keep in fending off the shot from Hobbits in the winners take all confrontation.

It was all over for Hobbits when Rangers’ goalkeeper rose to the occasion to prevent the ball from going in.

In the final, Rangers continued their gallant run and reversed the outcome against Wizards with a sweet 2-0 victory to emerge as champions in exciting fashion.

In the league contest held earlier between mid-February and end of April, Rangers only finished third in the standings comprising a total of six teams in the fray.

They completed their double round-robin league schedule with an average performance of four wins, four draws and two losses to collect a total of 16 points and finished behind Hobbits and runners-up Archers in the league competition.

The other two teams — Kings and Elves — also joined the action in the Junior division.

This year, the league drew a full house turnout with more than 250 budding footballers aged between seven and 14 in the fray.

Six teams each were in action in four divisions — Junior, Major (nine to 10 years), Senior (11 to 12 years) and Premier (13 to 14 years).

Major league champions Panthers lived up to their billing in registering a double by bagging both the league and the two-day tournament.

Panthers scored twice to defeat Sharks 2-0 for the victory in the final.

Among the four other sides in the Major section were Rhinos, Hawks, Cheetahs and Wolves.

For the Senior category, the cast were Hurricanes, Monsoons, Cyclones, Tornados, Blizzards and Typhoons.

Subang Jaya Community Sports Club (SJCSC) president Farouk Hashim said Monsoons were the deserving winners of the newly introduced Douglas Ladner Community Shield.

“Monsoons finished at the bottom of the table in their division with one win to show over 10 matches in the league. They were not top performers on the pitch with the playing ability but they exemplified the six core values including unity, teamwork, service, discipline, family and sportsmanship throughout the recent competition,” he added.

Farouk, who is serving his second term in leading the club, also applauded this season’s fresh leadership line-up comprising volunteers led by the new co-ordinator Zaini Mazlan for their outstanding effort in running the league.

Meanwhile, Picasso created another upset with their slim 1-0 win over the Premier league champions Casablanca in the final.

Four other teams — Fiore, LaSuria, Capri and Riviera — also featured in Premier contest.

RESULTS (all finals)

- Junior: Rangers bt Wizards 2-0

- Major: Panthers bt Sharks 2-0

- Senior: Cyclones bt Hurricanes 1-0

- Premier: Picasso bt Casablanca 1-0