NANYANG MBA

MBA Football Tour to Hong Kong

 Article written by Harrison Moore, Class of 2017

Fresh from finishing third in the MBA Olympics in Singapore, the Nanyang MBA football team entered the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology football tournament. A 2 group, 10 team intensive competition over the course of the May Day weekend.

Full of confidence, 1 month before the contest training started in earnest, with goals and tackles galore, we looked an impressive side. One of our new recruits, who was a last-minute substitution in the MBA Olympics, was Señor Herrera or el muro as he became more affectionately known, a certified ninja in goal, who was our saviour in that tournament was looking sharp, and preparations were well underway with one week to go.

Then disaster struck, Eduardo sustained ligament damage in a training exercise, and this was our first sign of tough times ahead. Thankfully Leslie Wong, stepped in from defence and put on the gloves and was willing to battle in goal.

On Friday the 28^th of April, we landed and were putting on our fancy attire to join the rest of the MBA programs for a “networking” event, but in fear they postponed the event as the thoughts of seeing the Nanyang MBA Football team out in full voice on a Friday evening before the tournament was enough to have them quaking in their boots. Needless to say, our team did some exploring and a little networking ourselves but were home early to be fresh for the big tournament ahead.

HKUST is a truly beautiful campus, not unlike NTU, it is a picturesque drive out of the city centre and has a stunning backdrop to the football pitches. So on the Saturday, with both the DJs in the two respective taxis providing us with ample tunes to get the confidence levels up and with our gallons of energy drink, we were buoyed for the first kick of the game.

The cobwebs had seemingly grown a little bigger over the course of the week, and with a performance that can be described as a little rusty but promising we were unfortunate to lose the first game against HK Polytechnic. Many positives to consider, Janina Wolf, the only lady on the team, and full of energy had a stellar game, really keeping the other team on their toes was closest of all to score. In a game with few opportunities and a little misfortune, we knew we would need to be better in game 2.

Game 2 was against Tsinghua, they looked to be the most competitive team in the entire group, and at half time we ran them off the pitch, going in at 0-0, we felt a little unfortunate as they had rarely had an opportunity. Leslie Wong was rarely troubled in goal and Jason Tan was running the show up top, then heartbreak struck as we conceded late on in the second half, which culminated in another as we were chasing the game. Heartbreak for Nanyang it really was as we felt we deserved more, and with that passion oozing out of our bodies, we were energized to win Game 3, against the hosts HKUST, a defining game and must win of the tournament or we would be facing elimination.

HKUST had a few noticeable players in their squad, and so did we, with Martin Ettling and Oliver Milius running hard in the game. Kevan Jhuboo was looking particularly menacing in the back and the shape was great. At half-time we were ahead 1-0, equalling the previous record held by Nanyang Business School in terms of goals scored in the tournament, through a fantastic goal by Jason, and it could have been 2 or 3, although HKUST were fortunate in clearing the ball off the line.

But just as many games go, when the heat is on in a must win game, you begin to try and protect a lead instead of adding to it, and we gradually invited more pressure on ourselves. We were wildly unfortunate to see the score go to 1-1 through a well worked set piece routine and in absolute disbelief a one hit wonder struck the back of the net in the dying minutes of the game to knock us out of the tournament.

This meant it truly was a game of pride in our final game of the group phase and with an aggressive new formation, we probably played our best of the tournament so far, Jason and myself took time to watch the game and were late additions in the second half and it gave us an opportunity to watch how well we could play as a squad. We ran the game and were comfortable on the ball, passing the ball from left to right. We went on to break the record for most goals scored by an NTU MBA team at the tournament with a superb team goal, passing it from goalkeeper, through defence, midfield and attack in Barcelona’esque tiki-taka fashion, giving myself an easy tap in at the far post, and humbling CUHK. Although it just wasn’t our day on a mild day in Hong Kong and with that goal our tournament dream was over.

So just like the Friday, the squad dressed for the town and in true Oceans Eleven style whilst surveying over Hong Kong Harbour, we reflected on what had been a tough tournament whilst watching the boats at Redbar go by, over a few party games and beers. We swore to come back again soon, when we are all multimillionaire CEOs and play as an alumni team and show this tournament our true fighting nature.