Equipe De Les Étrangers

Date: 3 May 08
Venue: Bishan Park Sec (located at Sin Ming)
Opponents: Team Uncles
Kick-off: 3pm
Referee: Charles
Kit: BLACK!

Players available:

Alex
Chuan Ji
Faizy
Chris
Clement
Seng Yew
Jerome
Amir
Chao Xing
Jiun Wei
Randy
Chung Wei
Jared (Guest Player)
The Striker* (Guest Player)

Players doubtful:

Players out:

Zhi Fei
Mike
Fuad

The season opener for season 2008/2009 kicks off this Saturday. Finally, we can kick start the the season and let's do our best to commence it on a high note by thumping Team Uncles again! And get a clean sheet at that too! The Mavericks are up against their arch-rivals for the upteenth time and it is going to be a smashing contest that's for sure.

Mavericks FC would be missing influential forward Zhi Fei, who is out and could miss the opening games for the season. However, the team welcomes back hard-working midfielder Seng Yew who has returned to full fitness after being forced to end the previous season prematurely through a knee injury. Under the watchful eye of world-reknowned knee surgeon Dr.Richard Steadman, the Mavericks man has returned to action sooner rather than later after impressing in the pre-season trainings. Dr. Steadman has developed a reputation as the top knee surgeon in the world and counts Ruud van Nistelrooy, Michael Owen, Alan Shearer and Roy Keane among his previous clients and has assured his latest patient that his injury problems are a thing of the past now.

Recent polls held at an unofficial fan club website are in favour of the notion that the Mavericks need further signings to bolster their squad, especially in midfield, whereby they are sorely lacking wide players as well as another target-man up front. A back-up goalkeeper is also on the shopping list.

For the central midfield birth, provided that midfield maestro Kee Siang stays "girl-free", and classy midfielder Boon Leng stays ☺"loyal"☺ to the club, the Outsiders would have a lot of depth in that department with the likes of Seng Yew, Mike, Wei Jie and Chung Wei who are able to play there just as well. Defensively, the team is ready, but a back-up commanding centre-back would be a great addition if in any case Chuan Ji becomes unavailable.

However, fans can expect to see a couple of new signings for the Mavericks before the end of the pre-season transfer window which closes at midnight at the end of the month.

Mavericks man-to-watch: Chung Wei
The Mavericks Pitbull has been in blistering form during the pre-season and fans can expect him to run the Uncles ragged this saturday. According to the end-of-season Actim official football statistics, the Mavericks defensive midfielder broke the record for most distances covered per match, with a staggering average of 15000m in 90 minutes, easily beating AC Milan player Gennaro Gattuso's 11000m in a Serie A match against Reggina and David Beckham's 12800m for England in their European Championship qualifer against Croatia. The creators of the award-winning Football Manager series has even specifically given his 'stamina' ratings a "20.5", breaking the tradition of having the maximum "20" for any statistic given to a player in the game. The season-opener promises to be a high-octane one, and expect the Mavericks man to be the center of it all.