NUS 1-1 Combined ITE (5-3 Pen)

There are good football matches, great football matches, and legendary football matches that will be remembered, reminisced, and retold for years to come. Tonight, when NUS made history by earning its first ever final berth in the SR Nathan Cup, was one of those legendary evenings.

Days before the match had even begun, a cloud of controversy threatened to overshadow what was already touted to be an eventful and hard fought encounter. With the media buzzing and with tensions rising behind the scenes of the tournament, the semi-final fixture seemed more than just a regular football match; there was a distinct upping of the stakes. Perhaps it was well suited then, for the match to be concluded only after stretching to the maximum 120 minutes and 10 penalties.

The game jolted into 5th gear as soon as it commenced. The hard ground and harder tackles ensured a robustly fought battle between the 2008 IVP 2nd and 3rd placed teams. No player on either side seemed willing to lose out in a single tackle; no clearance lacked full blooded enthusiasm. No team was willing to compromise on their game plan, and so no goals were scored as both sides entered half time stubborn in resistance.

The second half restarted badly for the NUS boys. Within 2 minutes from the kick off, a stray lob remained uncleared as a defensive miscommunication caused panic and confusion just outside the penalty box. Sharp in execution, an ITE forward pounced on the loose ball to curl into Harpreet's bottom corner for the advantage.

With little to gain from staying conservative, NUS abandoned their defensive shape to push for an equalizer. Well into the second period, a glorious series of passes saw Vincent put Chengwei through on the left. In spite of finding himself at too sharp an angle to strike at the goal, Chengwei characteristically weaved through two defenders with fresh pace and raw power before beating the ITE keeper with an audacious scoop into the back of the net. Relief and joy swept the faces of the NUS players, perfectly juxtaposed against the growing frustration and impatience demonstrated by ITE.

As regular time transited to extra time, tempers started to flare up as the tackles got more reckless. The ITE captain himself seemed on a personal mission to incur the wrath of the referee.

NUS threatened to clinch a late winner through Weiquan's dangerously delivered set pieces, but alas neither side budged.

And so penalties it was.

Gerald's first spot kick found the bottom corner of the net with relative ease. Weiquan's penalty was also finished cleanly - perfect technique saw the ball nuzzle the inside of the side netting despite the goalkeeper guessing correctly.

Then Harpreet decided to give the plot a new twist. A poor penalty by the taker of the second ITE kick was well denied by the veteran NUS shot-stopper; advantage NUS.

Stepping up cooly, Fabian and Joseph both made quick work of their kicks. And finally, at the death, Sudhi bravely sent the ITE goalkeeper the wrong way for an emphatic and convincing 5-4 penalty victory.

This win for NUS may not have been the most entertaining or the most convincing, but it was certainly the most deserved. One can't help but observe and reflect on the steely determination of Rafi dashing endlessly across the pitch, heel to heel with potentially the next Singaporean football sensation, rising for every header and lunging in for every tackle. Does this not embody everything that NUS represents? A little older and a little slower we may be, but with desire we overcome overwhelming talent, with fortitude we neutralize opponents' brimming confidence. This is our formula to success, and it is hard not to feel immensely proud that we did it this way.