Thursday, April 30, 2009

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

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

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 FC1 - 0Pelita Jaya FC
Abdelhamid Berguiga (76')
Brunei DPMM FC
No.NamePos
25Wardun YussofGK
2Yusof SallehDF
5Rene KomarDF
6Pg Sallehuddin Damit (C)DF
3Sairol SahariMF
7Azwan SalehMF
11Haji Subhi AbdilahMF
12Ivan JerkovicMF
8Oh Ddog YiFW
10Abdelhamid BerguigaFW
22Shahrazen SaidFW
Brunei DPMM FC Substitutes
1Azman Ilham NoorGK
4Safari WahitDF
9Hardi BujangMF
15Suhaime YussofMF
20Helmi ZambinMF
24Maududi Hilmi KasmiMF
23Haji Rahimni PundatFW
Pelita Jaya FC
No.NamePos
1Dian Agus PrasetyoGK
2SupardiDF
3Erol IbaDF
5Carlos BizarroDF
15Firman UtinaMF
22Ardan ArasMF
23Muhammad RidwanMF
29Egi MelgiansyahMF
9Cristiano Figueiredo (C)FW
10Rudi WidodoFW
14Gendut Dony ChristiawanFW
Pelita Jaya FC Substitutes
21I Made WardanaGK
12Teuku Helza RahmadDF
19Johan IboDF
4JusmadiMF
16Chusnul YaqienMF
24Basri BaddusalamMF
17Jajang MulyanaFW
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
NameMin
Yusof Salleh30
Oh Ddog Yi33
Sairol Sahari55
Rene Komar65
Pg Sallehuddin Damit81
Brunei DPMM FC Red Cards
None
Brunei DPMM FC Coach
Vjeran Simunic
Pelita Jaya FC Yellow Cards
NameMin
Firman Utina21
Jusmadi73
Pelita Jaya FC Red Cards
None
Pelita Jaya FC Coach
Fandi
Match Officials
RefereeT Aravinthan
Asst Referee 1Jeffrey Goh
Asst Referee 2Mohammad Faizal B Abas
Fourth OfficialMohammad Taqi A Jahari
Match CommissionerSulaini Said
Match Attendance2,052

S-League 2009 Disciplinary Records until 29th April

PlayerJersey No.TeamYellow CardsRed Cards
Fahrudin Mustafic17Tampines Rovers FC41
Kim Yoon Sik10Super Reds FC31
Pg Sallehuddin Damit6Brunei DPMM FC21
Shafuan Sutohmoh15Gombak United FC11
Mojtaba Tehranizadeh14Woodlands Wellington FC11
Ednardo Moura10Balestier Khalsa FC01
Walid Lounis5Geylang United FC01
Amos Boon1Sengkang Punggol FC01
Jerry Bartholomeusz4Sengkang Punggol FC01
Joey Sim12Sengkang Punggol FC01
Ahmad Latiff7Singapore Armed Forces FC01
Syaqir Sulaiman13Balestier Khalsa FC50
Anantha Rajan9Balestier Khalsa FC40
Oh Ddog Yi8Brunei DPMM FC40
Rene Komar5Brunei DPMM FC40
Sairol Sahari3Brunei DPMM FC40
Yusof Salleh2Brunei DPMM FC40
Baihakki Khaizan6Geylang United FC40
Rastislav Belicak3Geylang United FC40
Gabriel Obatola20Gombak United FC40
Jeremy Chiang7Gombak United FC40
Shahril Alias6Home United FC40
Noh Rahman20Sengkang Punggol FC40
Hafiz Osman4Singapore Armed Forces FC40
Anaz Hadee6Woodlands Wellington FC40
Ismadi Mukhtar7Woodlands Wellington FC40
Luis Eduardo Hicks10Woodlands Wellington FC40
Shahir Hamzah16Young Lions40
Kenji Adachihara14Albirex Niigata FC (S)30
Ithamar Soares Rangel18Balestier Khalsa FC30
Mahmod Hashim6Balestier Khalsa FC30
Rhysh Roshan Rai11Balestier Khalsa FC30
Azwan Saleh7Brunei DPMM FC30
Haji Subhi Abdilah11Brunei DPMM FC30
Hardi Bujang9Brunei DPMM FC30
G Lenan16Geylang United FC30
Syed Thaha11Geylang United FC30
Goran Subara17Gombak United FC30
Jaslee Hatta3Gombak United FC30
Ruhaizad Ismail8Gombak United FC30
Abdoulaye Diallo15Sengkang Punggol FC30
Murphy Wiredu7Sengkang Punggol FC30
John Wilkinson10Singapore Armed Forces FC30
Park Han Seok22Super Reds FC30
Shin Dae Kyung5Super Reds FC30
Zakaria Yousif9Woodlands Wellington FC30
Eugene Luo27Young Lions30
Isa Halim4Young Lions30
Akira Takase9Albirex Niigata FC (S)20
Ryota Kobayashi26Albirex Niigata FC (S)20
Taisuke Akiyoshi18Albirex Niigata FC (S)20
Takatoshi Uchida5Albirex Niigata FC (S)20
Ashrin Shariff18Geylang United FC20
Haruki Seto8Geylang United FC20
Lloyd Butler21Geylang United FC20
Noor Ali20Geylang United FC20
Rickey Harris10Geylang United FC20
Sevki Sha'ban4Gombak United FC20
Peres De Oliveira20Home United FC20
Anthony Bahadur11Sengkang Punggol FC20
Indra Sahdan Daud9Sengkang Punggol FC20
Masahiro Fukasawa6Singapore Armed Forces FC20
Mustaqim Manzur19Singapore Armed Forces FC20
Razaleigh Khalik13Singapore Armed Forces FC20
Choi Dong Soo6Super Reds FC20
Kang Su Ho1Super Reds FC20
Kim Seong Kyu13Super Reds FC20
Park Kang Jin15Super Reds FC20
Akihiro Nakamura8Tampines Rovers FC20
Benoit Croissant15Tampines Rovers FC20
Noh Alam Shah9Tampines Rovers FC20
Qiu Li10Tampines Rovers FC20
Precious Emuejeraye4Woodlands Wellington FC20
Arif Aiman23Young Lions20
Gabriel Quak7Young Lions20
Irwan Shah10Young Lions20
Obadin Aikhena20Young Lions20
Yang Mu24Young Lions20
Atsushi Shimono13Albirex Niigata FC (S)10
Ken Matsumoto10Albirex Niigata FC (S)10
Park Myung Eun4Albirex Niigata FC (S)10
Shota Matsuoka3Albirex Niigata FC (S)10
Shunsuke Sunaga11Albirex Niigata FC (S)10
Yoshitaka Komori8Albirex Niigata FC (S)10
Hafez Mawasi19Balestier Khalsa FC10
Julio Eduardo Cid Lagos7Balestier Khalsa FC10
K Sathiaraj2Balestier Khalsa FC10
K Vikraman14Balestier Khalsa FC10
Ram Shanker16Balestier Khalsa FC10
Seth Galloway15Balestier Khalsa FC10
Abdelhamid Berguiga10Brunei DPMM FC10
Abu Bakar Mahari17Brunei DPMM FC10
Ivan Jerkovic12Brunei DPMM FC10
Shahrazen Said22Brunei DPMM FC10
Faizal Senin2Geylang United FC10
Yasir Hanapi27Geylang United FC10
Fazli Jaffar11Gombak United FC10
Ridhwan Jamaludin18Gombak United FC10
Yusiskandar Yusop5Gombak United FC10
Fadzuhasny Juraimi15Home United FC10
Juma'at Bin Jantan4Home United FC10
Syed Fadhil11Home United FC10
Tengku Mushadad8Home United FC10
Aide Iskandar5Sengkang Punggol FC10
Farizal Basri10Sengkang Punggol FC10
Nor Azli Yusoff3Sengkang Punggol FC10
Zahid Ahmad19Sengkang Punggol FC10
Daniel Bennett16Singapore Armed Forces FC10
Kenji Arai3Singapore Armed Forces FC10
Shahril Jantan14Singapore Armed Forces FC10
Therdsak Chaiman8Singapore Armed Forces FC10
Zulfadli Zainal Abidin21Singapore Armed Forces FC10
Joo Ki Hwan25Super Reds FC10
Kim Shin Yui2Super Reds FC10
Lee Du Ri9Super Reds FC10
Park Chul Hyung3Super Reds FC10
Shin Seung Ki18Super Reds FC10
Song Wang Suk24Super Reds FC10
Firdaus Kasman21Tampines Rovers FC10
Imran Sahib11Tampines Rovers FC10
Shariff Samat2Tampines Rovers FC10
Zulkarnaen Zainal12Tampines Rovers FC10
Azlan Alipah3Woodlands Wellington FC10
Daniel Hammond5Woodlands Wellington FC10
Hasrin Bin Jailani11Woodlands Wellington FC10
J. Kalaiselvan17Woodlands Wellington FC10
Jalal2Woodlands Wellington FC10
Mohammad Shahri Bin Musa8Woodlands Wellington FC10
Syaiful Iskandar19Woodlands Wellington FC10
Syamsul Bahri Ali34Woodlands Wellington FC10
Afiq Yunos14Young Lions10
Goh Swee Swee19Young Lions10
Hafiz Abu Sujad8Young Lions10