Arsenal Malaysia Cup 2011, 27th March 2011

The Arsenal Malaysia Cup 2011 is the inaugural edition of a friendly mini futsal tournament for the registered members which I hope will be an annual affair.

Concept, 6 teams play each other in a round robin format. Each team has 7 players . The players will only know which team they will be in after a special draw. The players contacted Hafez Rachwan (thanks bro!) and once we had the 42 names, we proceeded with the special draw to see who goes to which team. The special draw was held a week before the event, coinciding with the match viewing gathering for the WBA vs Arsenal game, and was led by Izzat and ably assisted by Atiqah. Thank you both!

Time to see who our teammates are.

My turn.

I got Team Diaby Denilson Djourou!

And so did Faz aka Sanji.

We have our players for Teams Arshavin, Bendtner, Chamakh, Djourou, Eboue and Fabregas!

Unfortunately, Rachu had to pull out. It was still 42 players though because we had a couple of people on standby.

Someone asked me what I thought about the teams. This was my initial assessment.

Arshavin has 3-4 dangerous players. Top of the list is Hafilus. Solid, hard running and can sprint. And this is before the very skillful Qamal Fiqri replaced Rachu.

Bendtner has 5-6 org regulars, so we have to assume their teamwork will be good. And in their ranks they have Naim+Azha, AFCSM's regular centrebacks, plus Khai, AFCSM's regular goalkeeper.

Chamakh has 5 regulars, including AFCSM vice-captain Kepet, so again, they should have good teamwork.

Eboue has AFCSM's best goalkeeper in Shahnaz. In Paan and Faizal, they have very decent players.

But Fabregas are the favourites. They have King Azman + Pa'u, arguably the most skillful members we have in the tournament. Hafiz is also someone I know who is very skilful.

The event proper was held Samba de Futsal. We had 2 referees for all the games. Thanks to Aris for getting us those professional and experienced referees.

Registration (and payment!) counter. Thanks for your help ladies.

Some Arsenal Malaysia merchandise were sold during the event.

Free FourFourTwo magazines (Dec And Jan), thanks to Louis and Measat Publication.

Shahnaz brought a lot of nasi lemak for everyone. Thanks YB! Here he is proving that the nasi lemak is safe to consume as there were a few worried people, especially from other teams.

Games started at exactly 10am and finished exactly at 2pm. Excellent work from the referees. They knew what they were doing at all times. There was no need to remind them that we had a schedule to keep. Very thankful for that.

Referee giving briefing before the start of the tournament.

"Preeeeeeeeeeeeettttt!"

Team Arshavin.

Team Bendtner.

Team Chamakh.

Team Djourou, full squad.

Team Djourou.

Team Eboue.

Team Fabregas.

Filus letting one go before Azha could come in.

Fiq in full flight.

My defence was so solid I dared to venture forward numerous times.

Team Chamakh celebrating their consolation against Djourou.

Azrim kicking off.

Chamakh and Bendtner before their game.

Bendtner's captain Naim watching his top striker Taufik do his thang!

My only clean sheet was against Fabregas.

The King in action.

The 2 best-dressed teams, Chamakh and Fabregas before their game. Eboue's keeper is somewhere in this pic too.

Wan and Khairil Azizi, two rocks about to collide.

Arshavin and Djourou before the final game. Djourou only needed a draw, Arshavin needed a win and 3 goals while Fabregas were hoping Arshavin win but scoring less than 3 goals. That was how tight it was.

Sanji, widely regarded as the player of the tournament, celebrating at the end of the game that confirmed Djourou won the tournament undefeated.

Arai was among the spectators. Thanks Arai and everyone else who came to support this event.

The biggest regret is probably not having medical assistance on standby. There were some bad injuries suffered in this tournament along with the regular minor ones. Guess that's what happens when everyone gives their best.

Ahmad Shafiq being carried out.

Fiq in agony. Very bad this one.

Khairil Azizi in pain.

Azry was rolling in pain and had to be carried out. Bad knee injury.

Group photo everyone!

Hope everyone had fun!

The official results and standings.

1	Arshavin	3	1	Bendtner
2	Chamakh	1	6	Djourou
3	Eboue	0	2	Fabregas
4	Arshavin	3	0	Chamakh
5	Bendtner	0	4	Fabregas
6	Djourou	2	1	Eboue
7	Chamakh	2	3	Bendtner
8	Eboue	0	3	Arshavin
9	Fabregas	0	1	Djourou
10	Chamakh	1	2	Eboue
11	Bendtner	1	2	Djourou
12	Arshavin	1	2	Fabregas
13	Eboue	0	2	Bendtner
14	Fabregas	4	1	Chamakh
15	Djourou	1	1	Arshavin

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
DJOUROU	5	4	1	0	12	4	13
FABREGAS	5	4	0	1	12	3	12
ARSHAVIN	5	3	1	1	11	4	10
BENDTNER	5	2	0	3	7	11	6
EBOUE	5	1	0	4	3	10	3
CHAMAKH	5	0	0	5	5	18	0

Anand and Sukumar helped with the prize giving ceremony. Thanks!

5th runner-up, Team Chamakh.

4th runner-up, Team Eboue.

3rd runner-up, Team Bendtner.

2nd runner-up, Team Arshavin.

Runner-up, Team Fabregas.

Naim congratulating me. Thanks bro!

Receiving my trophy from Anand.

As captain, receiving the Arsenal Malaysia Cup!

Champion, Team Djourou!

Hoyeh Hoyeh!

Kissing the Cup!

IMHO, the event was a success. It went on smoothly primarily because everyone was on time and the refs knew what they were doing. That was my biggest satisfaction and captaining Team Djourou to be the first Arsenal Malaysia Cup Champion made it a double victory. However, my teammate Din lost his wallet and 2 handphones, and that really spoiled the mood. Really feel for you bro. Anyways, quoting the Administrator(s) of the AFCSM page on facebook.

Arsenal Malaysia Cup 2011 has come and gone and we would like to think it was a success. For that, there are many people to thank.

To all the players, thank you very much for coming early. The fact that no one was late was a pleasant surprise. Keep it up! Your dedication and passion is what this tournament is all about. The matching jerseys and players coming from afar reflected what this tourney means to you and that in turn means a lot to us. Thanks to the supporters who came. And thanks for buying some of the merchandise. Thanks to all the volunteers in the organizing committee, no matter how big or small your contribution was. You know who you are. Thanks to Amri for the superb pics, as always. Thanks to the guys who went out to buy more ice for our injured comrades.

We had several sponsors who contributed in cash and kind, including our President Sukumar, Exco Member Anand, Measat Publication (thanks to Exco Member Louis), and Pro Tem Committee member Shahnaz Fitry. Thank you all!

Sorry for any shortcomings, but we will learn from them. Hope you all had fun. We look forward to everyone's continuous support.