Match Day 3

Another exciting day of floorball awaits us tomorrow in which we will surely be entertained by lineups where teams are either gunning for their first win, or striving to continue their winning streak. This week, the match preview has been graciously provided by "-GHoST-" one of our SFL players whom has requested for his identity to be kept anonymous. Enjoy, and please let us in on your thoughts as well!

Gang Bintang  Versus  ZAP FC

Last week both the team got beaten by their opponent in a much unexpected way.  GB had a very bad start to the league when they lost to Red Phoenix in their first game.  During their game with Salibandy, the return of Khalid and Rizal did help the team to put up a better performance and they manage to match Salibandy in every aspect.  GB next game against ZAP will very much depend on the availability of their key players.

Filip Dahlgren, Kenny and Illyaz whom are on the team list did not make their appearance in the last two games.  If these 3 players are involved and Khalid together with Rizal were to play against ZAP, it will be very easy to predict the outcome of the game.  GB has been seen struggling to maintain possession and do not have fluid passing ability in their past game.  GB also been struggling to defend against quick attacks and this may be attributed to them playing their defenders very deep in their own half.  In order to have a positive result GB has to find the right solution to their defensive play and fine tune their play-ups. 

ZAP on the other hand plays aggressive and fast but lack the skills to match their speed.  Players were often got caught out of position in the game against Red Phoenix resulting in them conceding too many easy goals.  The absence of Jun Wooi in the team in the last game really affected the first line defence.  ZAP should take the risk and play Jun Wooi and Gary Lee in their first line together for ZAP in order for them to match or even overcome the GB’s first line.  ZAP’s failure to secure a win in their last two games is mainly attributed to their inability to take shots at goal.  

The match statistics may indicate the numbers in shots on goal but in actual fact none of the shots were good enough.  Most of the players need to work on their shots in order to get the goals.  The seasoned Joo Min has been misfiring in last two games and the like of Adrian and Terence hardly able to hit a decent shot at goal.  Most of the successful attacking moves are from the creative play of the notable Gary Lee, Jun Wooi and Sean Tee.  In order for ZAP to have decent chance of winning this game, the forwards need to buck up and get the goals.  The defenders on the other hand should be wary of the nippy Khalid of GB.  Apart from that the team needs to be disciplined to not allow any shot taken from the middle of the rink from the like of Taqi, Rizal & Gaffur.

Verdict :  This game will be closely fought and GB shall have the advantage to secure their first win. 

Salibandy!Co Versus Subang Rascals

This game got to be interesting.  The defending Champion will be against the Runner-up.  Salibandy maintain their key players and have brought back Song Sing and Andrian to their team.  Salibandy is one of the most organized and disciplined team in SFL.  There seem to be more maturity in the way they play this year and if the key players such as Terrence and Alvin are not closely marked, they could pose huge threat.  They also now have the gifted goal scorer Andrian who would be able to find the opponent’s net.  One can expect Salibandy to score decent amount goals in this clash.  

The key to achieving this would be to take advantage of the Rascals individual players such as Sjaiful, Dennis and Kamal who tend to lose possession of the ball under pressure.  Salibandy are strong in their defence too with the like of Kelsern, Song Sing and Ricky but are they good enough to stop the free scoring Rascals.  Playing a more compact formation when they are not in possession is probably the key shut out Rascals.  The defensive play of this team will be the deciding factor of the outcome of the game.  If they could defend well against Rascals, there is a high possibility of Salibandy beating Rascals for the first time. 

Subang Rascals on the other hand got their act together after a lukewarm start in their first game to trash GMI White Knights.  Despite the big score Rascals enjoyed against White Knights, one should notice that in the third period of their game against GMI, the score was 4-3 favouring Rascals.  This close scoreline was due to the change in tactics by the GMI coach in the last period.  What was the key to GMI staging a fight back in the 3^rd period will be kept out of this commentary and be left for Salibandy to figure it out themselves.  Rascals used to dominate their opponent by controlling the ball possession.  

This in turn gives them the advantage to take shot on goal.  During the last game, Rascals was seen still missing the services of Calle Lund, Aki Kanisto and Joerg Fuhrer.  It’s going to be quite unpredictable if these players were to be back in the team against Salibandy.  One should also watch out for the goal hungry Dennis.  He must be craving to top the point leaders list just like previous years and work extra hard for goals. 

This will probably be the best game to witness intense and high level floorball.  Despite the intensity of the game, the referees should have an easy day at work.  Both the team do have high respect for each other and you can’t expect any sparks. 

Verdict :  It may be a hard fought win for Rascals in a high scoring game.  Meaning both team will be scoring plenty of goal.

Red Phoenix Versus GMI White Knights

Red Phoenix is on red hot form and this is evident from the result they have achieved against Gang Bintang and ZAP.  Red Phoenix appears to cleverly draw out the defenders wide and create easy goal scoring opportunity.  In their game against Gang Bintang, their fast movement of the ball completely destroyed their opponent.  When they were up against ZAP last week, the introduction of Joel Cressman did the trick.  The official statistic appears to show that Joel only contributed 4 goals with no assist!! This is not the case at all as Joel assisted almost all of Asif’s goals.  Joel is definitely the “danger-man” and will be the key for Red Phoenix scoring a big win.  

Amir Naqi and Asif also been in good form and scoring on every opportunity given.  Defensively this team was not tested much in their previous game and most likely GMI do not have the depth in their team to match the experienced defenders in the like of Shahir and Amai. 

GMI on the other hand is probably the least experienced team with most of their players are first time floorball players. Having said that, this team has shown great determination to match their much experienced opponents. 

Their previous game was against Salibandy and Rascals. Despite the lack of experience and exposures, they fought hard to maintain a decent scoreline and also managed to score a few goals pass their opponents. GMI will again be the underdog in this game against Red Phoenix but a positive result for GMI would be to contain a high scoring defeat.  This can only be achieved if these young knights stay focused and play aggressively from the beginning until the last whistle.  Only their determination and hard work could prevent a high scoring defeat. 

Verdict :   This is an easy game to predict.  Easy win for Red Phoenix if GMI don’t live up to their potential.

*The previews of the remaining matches will be uploaded soon. Our special thanks goes to our anonymous writer, -GHoST- for his insights and contribution.