Yeah! Looks like it’s a new record for me because I’m able to publish our story a day after the tournament ended J
4th Leg of MPOC 2010 being held on 24th & 25th July 2010 at Padang Merbok, Kuala Lumpur. I believe this is the first time (since last year) that any MPOC leg being held at other location than Bukit Jalil. It’s also the debut of SupAir Arena field. For Eastsiderzz, this 4th leg meant much more for us because the chase for overall champion of Division 2 MPOC 2010 stills a close fight. We’re leading the overall ranking with Red Sevens just 2 points away.
Day 1
Actually for Division 2, every team will have 5 preliminary matches. But for Eastsiderzz, we only have 4 matches and 1 walkover match. It’s lucky that I draw no 7 during the team draw on last night Captain’s meeting J. So for preliminary matches, Eastsiderzz will face Ronin Nexus (I believe it’s a combination of Jesselton Nexus and Ronin Lunacy players), Jokerz, Dark Angels and Red Sevens.
Eastsiderzz lineup for this leg is Apex, Shah, Jaa, Pojie, Mamat and me. A’are was unable to join us due to work commitment.
Our second match (first match was a walkover) was with Ronin Nexus. We managed to score on 1st game but folded for 2nd and 3rd game. There goes our 1st defeat of the day. Well, it become a ritual actually for Eastsiderzz to lose on our first match of the day J
Our third match was with Jokerz. Even though we still adapting with lineup, tactics and field familiarization, we managed to score 2-0 win with them. On the other note, our friend Zul from Crazy Hunter was a guest player with Jokerz.
Our fourth match was with Dark Angels. Bear in mind that on last leg, we only managed to draw 1-1 with them. So this time we’re gonna make sure that the win is on our side. We win on the 1st game but not on the 2nd game. That time I think that it might be either a dejavu for us or worst. Alhamdulillah, we managed to win this match.
Our fifth and last match was with Red Sevens. Actually during this time, it doesn’t matter which team win or lose because both of us have confirmed the spot of 2nd and 3rd for semifinal and we still will face each other again in the semifinal. The advantage is, if on the semifinal match winning team still cannot be decided after the overtime, there are big possibilities that the winning team of this preliminary match will be a winner and proceed to the final. Personally, I think this head-to-head match is important to both side. Why? If Red Sevens win, it shows that they can ‘crack our code’ and definitely will give boost to them on the semifinal match. But if we win, well, that’s mean we still maintain a clean records of winning against them J. Alhamdulillah again, Eastsiderzz managed to win 2-0 with them. Definitely Red Sevens will change their approach when we face again in the semifinal.
With all completed preliminary matches for Division 2, here the 4 teams that will be in the semifinals; Ronin Nexus vs Urban X and Eastsiderzz vs Red Sevens.
Day 2
First semifinal match is between Ronin Nexus and Urban X. Even though with all-win-result on day 1, it looks like Ronin Nexus nearly being topped by Urban X. But Ronin Nexus able to regroup back and book one spot on the final match.
Second semifinal match is between Eastsiderzz and Red Sevens. This is the turning point for the overall champion pursue. If we win, we can separate ourselves a little bit more so we’ll have a comfortable position on the final leg. If we lose, then we have to fight much harder later. And also, that’s mean Red Sevens have found a way to beat us J.
On the first game, it looks like Red Sevens didn’t make major changes in their tactics. So we’re able to close the game and get the first win. Same goes on the second game. The only mistake we made was we close the game carelessly. With four players of our side, we still unable to take down one of theirs L. That’s the mistake that we’ll remember forever. So on the third game, we took back the win and guarantee our spot in the final.
So for the 3rd & 4th placing, Urban X will face Red Sevens, and in the final, Ronin Nexus will meet Eastsiderzz.
It’s quite an important battle for a 3rd & 4th placing match. Both teams need to win to achieve their target. Red Sevens needs to win so they can close the gap with Eastsiderzz in pursuing overall champion title. Urban X needs to win to close the gap for 2nd place with Red Sevens. They also need to prove that they can overcome Red Sevens in a match. This match going for 3 games and Urban X grabbed the title as 2nd runner up for 4th Leg MPOC 2010.
Based on preliminary round result, Eastsiderzz won’t stand a chance when facing Ronin Nexus. But anything can happen in any matches. We proved that the tactics that we adapted during halfway of the preliminary round until semifinal match make a big difference in the final. Also 1-for-1 penalties for Ronin Nexus helped us to end the match with 2-0 result. Again in 4th Leg of MPOC 2010, we were crowned as champion.
As usual, I would like to thank my teammates during this leg; Apex, Shah, Jaa, Pojie and Mamat. It’s always an honor to play alongside with you guys. Hope we will play together on the last leg. To anyone else that helped us during this tournament (you know who you are J), thank you very much. Also to the teams in between our matches that willingly helped us, we really appreciated your kindness. Lastly to all that wishes us luck, thank you, have faith in us and do support us all the way until the end.
Signing off for now,
Che’ka
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