A healthy turnout of 20 players was at Orchid Country Club, Aranda Lounge to vie for the 2014 edition of the TFAS Cup. Besides the local group of Singapore players, our friends from Malaysia, Hong Kong and France also made the journey to our shores to add further spice to the tournament. Sad to say, we did miss our Belgian friend, Stephane, who had to withdraw at the last-minute due to injury resulting from a freak accident back home.
Back Row (Left-to-Right): Noor Haikal, Den Mulia, Henry, Anas, Michael Dent, Antonio, Azhar, Galvin, Fadhly, Michael Choong, Ouabi, Nic
Front Row (Left-to-Right): John Ho, Rudy, Bernard, Giovanni, Ezan, Kok Wee, Rizal Taib, Vikas
From Antonio being knocked out by Anas; to Bernard calling for goal-line technology in his game against Rudy; and to Den Mulia having nightmares from his closely-contested semi-final against Ouabi … it was an action-packed day with upsets and controversies galore!!
The returning Noor Haikal created the 1st upset of the day when he defeated top-seed Antonio 1-0 in his opening match. And our 2013 Merlion Cup Champion, the all-conquering Ouabi from France, expectedly steam-rolled all that stand in his way to the grand prize!! … blowing all in sight into smitherens, scoring a whopping 41 goals while conceding only 3 goals. Only our local favourite and Singapore No. 1 Den Mulia managed to provide any sort of a ‘discomfort’ to Ouabi in their keenly-fought semi-final.
Elsewhere, there were close match-ups between Kok Wee and Ezan that went into extra-time before Kok Wee finally running out 6-3 winners in their barrage match-up. While Michael and Rudy played out a 1-1 draw in their quarter-final match-up that went into extra-time and then shots. In a test of nerve and composure, Michael eventually triumphed 4-3 on shots.
Here’s some of the action of the day …
The Group standings after the Group games are shown below with the 1st-placed player from Groups A to D qualifying automatically for the quarter-final …
The 2nd-placed player from Groups A to D, together with the top 2 players in Groups E and F goes into barrage match-ups to determine the remaining quarter-finalists …
Below is the quarter-final, semi-final, 3rd/4th placing and Final match-ups and results …
After an eventful day, the 2014 TFAS Cup Champion is none other than Ouabi with a comfortable and expected 3-0 win over Kok Wee. The defending TFAS Cup Champion from 2013, Den Mulia, took 3rd place after beating Michael Choong 2-0.
Left-to-Right: Mr Stan (OCC SNR Facilitator), Kok Wee (Runner-Up), Ouabi (Champion), Den Mulia (Third), Michael Choong (Fourth)
Thank you all players for your participation and sporting behaviour throughout the course of the tournament. And special thanks to our foreign friends who made the journey to grace our tournament. Hope to see all again in the next major tournament – the World Cup themed National Championships in June 2014!!
FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME …
Table Football Association of Singapore 