RHB Singapore Cup: Geylang United vs SAFFC

RHB Singapore Cup: Eagles ready to claim Warriors scalp

Mohd Sham
info@sleague.com

High-flying Geylang United will be aiming to translate their scintillating domestic league form into the knockout platform of a cup competition when they face defending champions SAFFC in their RHB Singapore Cup first-round clash at Bedok stadium on Friday evening.

Whilst most teams would be forgiven for approaching a first-round encounter against the current holders of Singapore’s premier cup contest with a hint of trepidation and perhaps even resignation, the Eagles have been on a roll in the league, amassing an impressive ten points from four matches, coinciding with the appointment of Mike Wong as first team coach.

Coupled with the fact that the Warriors are suffering both mentally and physically after two long, arduous trips to Japan and Brunei that culminated in defeats in both continental and domestic combat, Geylang boss Mike Wong is making all the encouraging noises ahead of Friday's clash.

Wong said, “The Singapore Cup is a knockout round and anything can happen. We will go with a game plan that suits us and not them.

“They have had two games travelling to Japan and Brunei but knowing them, they won’t come to Bedok and say they are tired.

“If we sit back, they will come at us and we will be in trouble, because they are the defending champions and they have experienced players who know what they have to do.

“But this is our home ground and they are coming to our place, so we won’t sit back. We are going out for a win.”

Despite the Warriors clocking more miles in the air than on the pitch last week, Wong is refusing to factor in fatigue as a possible chink in the SAFFC armour.

“Firstly, SAFFC are a really experienced team and they played in Brunei four days after their ACL match”, he explained.

“I spoke to some friends in Brunei who watched the game. While SAFFC did not have a very good first half, they came back strongly in the second half so I’m not taking in fatigue as much of a consideration.

Wong has urged his charges to draw on lessons from their 0-2 defeat to SAFFC earlier in the season.

He added, “If you look at that game we played against them, we have to be more organized and take our chances.

“We have to do something productive when we have possession of the ball and make the most of our chances.

“We just have to go out and play our own game and take the match to them.”

For Warriors chief Richard Bok, rest and recuperation has been the order of the day ahead of Friday’s match.

Bok quipped, “I myself am mentally drained after all the travelling and so are the players definitely!

“Resting is important for us but we also need to work a bit on our defensive aspect and tighten it up.”

Bok admitted that their Bedok assignment represents a potential banana skin for the champions.

“It will be a tough game and we are going through a bad patch but we need to recover from this quickly,” he commented.

“There is pressure but hopefully, the experience we have will carry us through but we definitely want to be more aggressive from now on.”

The Warriors gaffer conceded that motivating his troops for a competition they have twice in succession tasted glory in is a tough task, but he maintained that the opportunity to rewrite another chapter in the club's illustrious history would be a deal too good to turn down.

He elaborated, “I’m trying very hard to motivate the boys but this is a knockout game so anything can happen.

“We created history last year by winning the double twice and the title three years in a row, so this is another chance to rewrite another milestone in the club’s history. I hope this would be an extra motivation for the players.”

Nordin: Singapore making progress

Elected President of the Singaporean Football Association on 1 April, Zainudin Nordin was in Zurich on his first official visit to FIFA headquarters on Monday. Mr Nordin, who is also Mayor of Central Singapore District and a member of the Singaporean Parliament, discussed the development of Asian football with FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter before giving an interview toFIFA.com.

FIFA.com: Mr Nordin, what is the purpose of your visit to FIFA?
Zainudin Nordin: I'm passing through Europe and, as I was elected on 1 April, I came to introduce myself to FIFA. I also wanted to thank President Blatter for the help FIFA has given in developing the game in Singapore over the years. We talked about football in Singapore and then discussed the game in Asia and the AFC at more length.

What are your objectives as the President of the Singaporean FA?
We have been working towards the development of football in Singapore for many years and or aim now is to take it up to the next level. Our development work has started to pay off. We reached the third qualifying round for the 2010 FIFA World Cup for the very first time. We'd never got past the first round before. We beat some good teams on the way and we are delighted with the progress we made.

What are your next objectives?
We believe in making gradual progress. Ten years ago our aim was to improve our status in southeast Asia. We've done that by winning the ASEAN Cup (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) three times and now we are among the top 20 Asian teams. Our next goal is to shine in Asia and become one of the continent's top 10 sides.

What about other areas of the game?
It isn't just the full national team that's improving. Our U-16 side qualified for the Asian Youth Cup, the U-23s won the bronze medal at the ASEAN Games, and our club Armed Forces is taking part in the AFC Champions League. Our development programmes will soon be paying off.

Next year you will also be hosting the first Youth Olympic Games.
And we are so pleased about it. Football will have an important part to play in the Games. We're also playing in the Asian Youth Games this year and we are getting a huge amount of registration applications from football teams.

RHB Singapore Cup: Brunei DPMM FC vs Pelita Jaya(IND) Report [1-0]

RHB Singapore Cup:Sixth time lucky for DPMM Fabius Chen info@sleague.com For the first time in six attempts, Brunei DPMM progressed beyond the preliminary round of the RHB Singapore Cup, courtesy of a narrow 1-0 win over Indonesian side Pelita Jaya at Jalan Besar Stadium on Wednesday. A controversial second-half goal by Algerian forward Abdel Hamid Beguiga was enough to send the Bruneians into the quarter-final stage at the expense of Fandi Ahmad’s side. In the lead-up to the game, Fandi had declared that his side would look to take the game to DPMM and for much of the first-half, they certainly did just that. It took the Young Guns just eight minutes to test Wardun Yussof in the DPMM goal but Firman Utina’s left-foot strike was easily dealt with. They looked the more settled of the two sides, dominating the early play and causing the Bruneian defenders all sorts of problems. Three times in the first 20 minutes, DPMM defender Rene Komar had to get his body in the way of shots and crosses that could have resulted in some early damage. Meanwhile, Vjeran Simunic’s side was struggling to string a decent series of passes together and limited to shots from range that either flew wide or straight at Young Guns stopper Dian Agus Prasetyo. His defence was being given a hard time by midfielders Firman and Muhammad Ridwan, who linked up well on several occasions before the danger was snuffed out. Fandi had been worried that his players would not be able to adapt to the stadium’s artificial turf in time and there were hints that his concerns were legitimate. Although they were moving the ball around comfortably enough, there were several occasions in the first-half where the Indonesians seemed to indulge in one pass too many, as though no one really wanted to play the final ball. Coach Fandi later pointed to the playing surface as having caused his players some problems over the course of the 90 minutes. “We usually play at a much higher tempo,” he stressed. “Some of our players were still adjusting to the pitch; our wingers are very fast but when they ran, the ball kept going faster and when they wanted to cross the ball, they needed to adjust a bit.” As the half drew to a close, DPMM began to look like a side that is more familiar with the Jalan Besar pitch but by the time referee T. Aravinthan blew for half-time, neither side had carved out a really clear cut chance to break the deadlock. After the break, Pelita continued to dominate possession, patiently passing the ball around and waiting for an opportunity to present itself. Their opponents, however, proved to be equally adept at being patient, giving the Indonesian side time and space until they entered the final third of the pitch. An enthralling battle was breaking out between DPMM’s Komar and Young Guns skipper Cristiano Lopes, with the Croatian defender showing the Brazilian exactly why the Brunei side has earned the label of being a physical side. Even after being shown a yellow card for a robust challenge on Lopes, Komar continued his rough treatment of the forward, prompting Fandi to suggest that further action could and should have been taken. He commented: “I thought Komar should have gotten a red card, after committing so many fouls.” It was another challenge that went unpunished, this time Sairol Sahari bringing down Ridwan near the half-way line, which almost brought DPMM the breakthrough in the 68th minute. Sairol raced up the other end and laid the ball off for Azwan Saleh but his curling effort stuck the Pelita crossbar and back into play. The Young Guns had their first real scare of the game and they failed to heed it, as just eight minutes later, Berguiga popped up with the game-winning goal. There was a strong suspicion of hand-ball when Berguiga raced clear and muscled Ardan Aras out of his way before rounding an onrushing Dian and rolling the ball into an empty net. Pelita’s players protested vehemently but their pleas fell on deaf ears and the Bruneians were a goal to the good. It was a blow that Fandi’s side never really looked like recovering from, as DPMM locked the back door and threw away the key. With just six minutes left, the Young Guns nearly snatched an equaliser with substitute Jusmadi’s sweetly-struck free-kick was touched onto his own bar by Wardun at full-stretch. By then, however, the Indonesians had run out of ideas and even with three minutes added at the end of the 90 minutes, were unable to conjure up an equaliser. After the game, Fandi was certain that Berguiga’s matchwinner should have been ruled out. “It was a clear hand-ball. Everybody saw it so I don’t know how the referee and assistant missed it,” he said. “But we can only blame ourselves because we had two or three good chances in the first-half and I think we dominated the game very well.” There had been much hype surrounding Fandi’s return to the local football scene in this competition, although his side’s participation proved to be short-lived in the end. A disappointed Fandi stated: “It’s nice to be back but it’s very disappointing that we’re not in the next round.” For his counterpart Simunic, however, it was a result to savour. “It’s a big victory because we’ve waited for six years for it,” he emphasised. “Pelita Jaya is a very good team. They caused us problems in the first half but we were better, especially in the last half hour, when we had more possession of the ball and created a few chances. “We came here to do our best, to not lose and we have succeeded.” After soaking up pressure for much of the game, Simunic was keen to highlight that it is the final score that matters. “In a cup competition, only victory is important so we are happy,” he pointed out. Which leaves the most important question of all: did he think Berguiga was guilty of controlling the ball with his arm? Without so much as missing a beat, Simunic dismissed the thought before turning the allegation on his opponents. “No, not possible. There were many hand-balls but they were all at the other end.”

Brunei DPMM handed last-eight spot in Singapore Cup

SINGAPORE: Hard-running Pelita Jaya were more than a match for DPMM FC's robust physical play on Wednesday night in their preliminary round clash in the RHB Singapore Cup.

But a controversial goal by the in-form Abdelhamid Berguiga gave the S.League leaders a 1-0 victory over Fandi Ahmad's charges at Jalan Besar Stadium.

In the 76th minute, the Algerian chased down a long punt and appeared to push the ball past the covering Ardan Aras with his hand, before rounding the Pelita goalkeeper and slotting the ball into the unguarded goal.

As Berguiga celebrated, Daft Punk's "Put your hands up in the air" rang out appropriately from the speakers in the stadium.

It seemed that referee T. Aravinthan and his assistant were the only two in the stadium who failed to spot Berguiga putting his hand up to help the ball along en route to goal.

The Indonesians piled on the pressure in the last quarter of the game, but the Bruneians hung on grimly to extend their unbeaten run in all competitions to 11 games, as they qualified for the last eight of the Singapore Cup.

"In cup competitions only victory is important," said Vjeran Simunic, who insisted Berguiga did not use his hand for his goal.

Fandi, though, was clear about how the controversial goal came about.

"There was a handball, everyone saw it, but we only have ourselves to blame for the chances that we missed," he said.

"Credit to DPMM, they keep fighting. They really are a hard team to beat." - TODAY

Match Statistics for Match 2 - Brunei DPMM FC vs Pelita Jaya FC

Match Statistics for Match 2 - Brunei DPMM FC vs Pelita Jaya FC

SINGAPORE CUP

29 Apr 09, 1945hrs, Jalan Besar Stadium

SCORING SUMMARY (Full-Time Score)
Brunei DPMM FC	1 - 0		Pelita Jaya FC
Abdelhamid Berguiga (76')

Brunei DPMM FC
No.	Name	Pos
25	Wardun Yussof	GK
2	Yusof Salleh	DF
5	Rene Komar	DF
6	Pg Sallehuddin Damit (C)	DF
3	Sairol Sahari	MF
7	Azwan Saleh	MF
11	Haji Subhi Abdilah	MF
12	Ivan Jerkovic	MF
8	Oh Ddog Yi	FW
10	Abdelhamid Berguiga	FW
22	Shahrazen Said	FW
Brunei DPMM FC Substitutes
1	Azman Ilham Noor	GK
4	Safari Wahit	DF
9	Hardi Bujang	MF
15	Suhaime Yussof	MF
20	Helmi Zambin	MF
24	Maududi Hilmi Kasmi	MF
23	Haji Rahimni Pundat	FW

Pelita Jaya FC
No.	Name	Pos
1	Dian Agus Prasetyo	GK
2	Supardi	DF
3	Erol Iba	DF
5	Carlos Bizarro	DF
15	Firman Utina	MF
22	Ardan Aras	MF
23	Muhammad Ridwan	MF
29	Egi Melgiansyah	MF
9	Cristiano Figueiredo (C)	FW
10	Rudi Widodo	FW
14	Gendut Dony Christiawan	FW
Pelita Jaya FC Substitutes
21	I Made Wardana	GK
12	Teuku Helza Rahmad	DF
19	Johan Ibo	DF
4	Jusmadi	MF
16	Chusnul Yaqien	MF
24	Basri Baddusalam	MF
17	Jajang Mulyana	FW

Brunei DPMM FC Substitutions

Hardi Bujang for Oh Ddog Yi (59')

Sairol Sahari for Helmi Zambin (72')

Safari Wahit for Pg Sallehuddin Damit (81')

Pelita Jaya FC Substitutions

Jajang Mulyana for Gendut Dony Christiawan (50')

Jusmadi for Egi Melgiansyah (57')

Brunei DPMM FC Yellow Cards
Name	Min
Yusof Salleh	30
Oh Ddog Yi	33
Sairol Sahari	55
Rene Komar	65
Pg Sallehuddin Damit	81
Brunei DPMM FC Red Cards
None
Brunei DPMM FC Coach
Vjeran Simunic

Pelita Jaya FC Yellow Cards
Name	Min
Firman Utina	21
Jusmadi	73
Pelita Jaya FC Red Cards
None
Pelita Jaya FC Coach
Fandi

Match Officials
Referee	T Aravinthan
Asst Referee 1	Jeffrey Goh
Asst Referee 2	Mohammad Faizal B Abas
Fourth Official	Mohammad Taqi A Jahari
Match Commissioner	Sulaini Said

Match Attendance

2,052

S-League 2009 Disciplinary Records until 29th April

Player	Jersey No.	Team	Yellow Cards	Red Cards
Fahrudin Mustafic	17	Tampines Rovers FC	4	1
Kim Yoon Sik	10	Super Reds FC	3	1
Pg Sallehuddin Damit	6	Brunei DPMM FC	2	1
Shafuan Sutohmoh	15	Gombak United FC	1	1
Mojtaba Tehranizadeh	14	Woodlands Wellington FC	1	1
Ednardo Moura	10	Balestier Khalsa FC	0	1
Walid Lounis	5	Geylang United FC	0	1
Amos Boon	1	Sengkang Punggol FC	0	1
Jerry Bartholomeusz	4	Sengkang Punggol FC	0	1
Joey Sim	12	Sengkang Punggol FC	0	1
Ahmad Latiff	7	Singapore Armed Forces FC	0	1
Syaqir Sulaiman	13	Balestier Khalsa FC	5	0
Anantha Rajan	9	Balestier Khalsa FC	4	0
Oh Ddog Yi	8	Brunei DPMM FC	4	0
Rene Komar	5	Brunei DPMM FC	4	0
Sairol Sahari	3	Brunei DPMM FC	4	0
Yusof Salleh	2	Brunei DPMM FC	4	0
Baihakki Khaizan	6	Geylang United FC	4	0
Rastislav Belicak	3	Geylang United FC	4	0
Gabriel Obatola	20	Gombak United FC	4	0
Jeremy Chiang	7	Gombak United FC	4	0
Shahril Alias	6	Home United FC	4	0
Noh Rahman	20	Sengkang Punggol FC	4	0
Hafiz Osman	4	Singapore Armed Forces FC	4	0
Anaz Hadee	6	Woodlands Wellington FC	4	0
Ismadi Mukhtar	7	Woodlands Wellington FC	4	0
Luis Eduardo Hicks	10	Woodlands Wellington FC	4	0
Shahir Hamzah	16	Young Lions	4	0
Kenji Adachihara	14	Albirex Niigata FC (S)	3	0
Ithamar Soares Rangel	18	Balestier Khalsa FC	3	0
Mahmod Hashim	6	Balestier Khalsa FC	3	0
Rhysh Roshan Rai	11	Balestier Khalsa FC	3	0
Azwan Saleh	7	Brunei DPMM FC	3	0
Haji Subhi Abdilah	11	Brunei DPMM FC	3	0
Hardi Bujang	9	Brunei DPMM FC	3	0
G Lenan	16	Geylang United FC	3	0
Syed Thaha	11	Geylang United FC	3	0
Goran Subara	17	Gombak United FC	3	0
Jaslee Hatta	3	Gombak United FC	3	0
Ruhaizad Ismail	8	Gombak United FC	3	0
Abdoulaye Diallo	15	Sengkang Punggol FC	3	0
Murphy Wiredu	7	Sengkang Punggol FC	3	0
John Wilkinson	10	Singapore Armed Forces FC	3	0
Park Han Seok	22	Super Reds FC	3	0
Shin Dae Kyung	5	Super Reds FC	3	0
Zakaria Yousif	9	Woodlands Wellington FC	3	0
Eugene Luo	27	Young Lions	3	0
Isa Halim	4	Young Lions	3	0
Akira Takase	9	Albirex Niigata FC (S)	2	0
Ryota Kobayashi	26	Albirex Niigata FC (S)	2	0
Taisuke Akiyoshi	18	Albirex Niigata FC (S)	2	0
Takatoshi Uchida	5	Albirex Niigata FC (S)	2	0
Ashrin Shariff	18	Geylang United FC	2	0
Haruki Seto	8	Geylang United FC	2	0
Lloyd Butler	21	Geylang United FC	2	0
Noor Ali	20	Geylang United FC	2	0
Rickey Harris	10	Geylang United FC	2	0
Sevki Sha'ban	4	Gombak United FC	2	0
Peres De Oliveira	20	Home United FC	2	0
Anthony Bahadur	11	Sengkang Punggol FC	2	0
Indra Sahdan Daud	9	Sengkang Punggol FC	2	0
Masahiro Fukasawa	6	Singapore Armed Forces FC	2	0
Mustaqim Manzur	19	Singapore Armed Forces FC	2	0
Razaleigh Khalik	13	Singapore Armed Forces FC	2	0
Choi Dong Soo	6	Super Reds FC	2	0
Kang Su Ho	1	Super Reds FC	2	0
Kim Seong Kyu	13	Super Reds FC	2	0
Park Kang Jin	15	Super Reds FC	2	0
Akihiro Nakamura	8	Tampines Rovers FC	2	0
Benoit Croissant	15	Tampines Rovers FC	2	0
Noh Alam Shah	9	Tampines Rovers FC	2	0
Qiu Li	10	Tampines Rovers FC	2	0
Precious Emuejeraye	4	Woodlands Wellington FC	2	0
Arif Aiman	23	Young Lions	2	0
Gabriel Quak	7	Young Lions	2	0
Irwan Shah	10	Young Lions	2	0
Obadin Aikhena	20	Young Lions	2	0
Yang Mu	24	Young Lions	2	0
Atsushi Shimono	13	Albirex Niigata FC (S)	1	0
Ken Matsumoto	10	Albirex Niigata FC (S)	1	0
Park Myung Eun	4	Albirex Niigata FC (S)	1	0
Shota Matsuoka	3	Albirex Niigata FC (S)	1	0
Shunsuke Sunaga	11	Albirex Niigata FC (S)	1	0
Yoshitaka Komori	8	Albirex Niigata FC (S)	1	0
Hafez Mawasi	19	Balestier Khalsa FC	1	0
Julio Eduardo Cid Lagos	7	Balestier Khalsa FC	1	0
K Sathiaraj	2	Balestier Khalsa FC	1	0
K Vikraman	14	Balestier Khalsa FC	1	0
Ram Shanker	16	Balestier Khalsa FC	1	0
Seth Galloway	15	Balestier Khalsa FC	1	0
Abdelhamid Berguiga	10	Brunei DPMM FC	1	0
Abu Bakar Mahari	17	Brunei DPMM FC	1	0
Ivan Jerkovic	12	Brunei DPMM FC	1	0
Shahrazen Said	22	Brunei DPMM FC	1	0
Faizal Senin	2	Geylang United FC	1	0
Yasir Hanapi	27	Geylang United FC	1	0
Fazli Jaffar	11	Gombak United FC	1	0
Ridhwan Jamaludin	18	Gombak United FC	1	0
Yusiskandar Yusop	5	Gombak United FC	1	0
Fadzuhasny Juraimi	15	Home United FC	1	0
Juma'at Bin Jantan	4	Home United FC	1	0
Syed Fadhil	11	Home United FC	1	0
Tengku Mushadad	8	Home United FC	1	0
Aide Iskandar	5	Sengkang Punggol FC	1	0
Farizal Basri	10	Sengkang Punggol FC	1	0
Nor Azli Yusoff	3	Sengkang Punggol FC	1	0
Zahid Ahmad	19	Sengkang Punggol FC	1	0
Daniel Bennett	16	Singapore Armed Forces FC	1	0
Kenji Arai	3	Singapore Armed Forces FC	1	0
Shahril Jantan	14	Singapore Armed Forces FC	1	0
Therdsak Chaiman	8	Singapore Armed Forces FC	1	0
Zulfadli Zainal Abidin	21	Singapore Armed Forces FC	1	0
Joo Ki Hwan	25	Super Reds FC	1	0
Kim Shin Yui	2	Super Reds FC	1	0
Lee Du Ri	9	Super Reds FC	1	0
Park Chul Hyung	3	Super Reds FC	1	0
Shin Seung Ki	18	Super Reds FC	1	0
Song Wang Suk	24	Super Reds FC	1	0
Firdaus Kasman	21	Tampines Rovers FC	1	0
Imran Sahib	11	Tampines Rovers FC	1	0
Shariff Samat	2	Tampines Rovers FC	1	0
Zulkarnaen Zainal	12	Tampines Rovers FC	1	0
Azlan Alipah	3	Woodlands Wellington FC	1	0
Daniel Hammond	5	Woodlands Wellington FC	1	0
Hasrin Bin Jailani	11	Woodlands Wellington FC	1	0
J. Kalaiselvan	17	Woodlands Wellington FC	1	0
Jalal	2	Woodlands Wellington FC	1	0
Mohammad Shahri Bin Musa	8	Woodlands Wellington FC	1	0
Syaiful Iskandar	19	Woodlands Wellington FC	1	0
Syamsul Bahri Ali	34	Woodlands Wellington FC	1	0
Afiq Yunos	14	Young Lions	1	0
Goh Swee Swee	19	Young Lions	1	0
Hafiz Abu Sujad	8	Young Lions	1	0