SINGAPORE – Home United must take into account the climatic conditions in the Maldives when the Singaporean side takes on AFC Cup Group H rivals Valencia in Male on Tuesday says skipper S. Subramani.
“I have played in the Maldives a few times and I remember playing in very hot and humid weather as the matches were played at about three or four in the afternoon,” Subramani told www.the-afc.com prior to two-time Singapore champions’ departure to the Maldivian capital.
“Because of this we needed to keep possession more as not to waste our energy unnecessarily in the particularly hot climate.”
Home United have a reasonably impressive AFC Cup record in the Maldives, winning two of the four matches they have played in Male.
With Subramani anchoring the Singaporean side’s defence in their matches in the Indian Ocean islands, Home beat Valencia 3-0 on route to reaching the semi-finals in 2004 before defeating Victory 3-1 as the Protectors made it to the last eight in last year’s competition.
Last Monday’s morale-boosting 4-0 win over Woodlands Wellington in their most recent S.League match notwithstanding, Home’s domestic form has been below par by their usual standards, with P.N Sivaji’s side languishing at the wrong end of the table prior to their Norikazu Murakami-inspired demolition of the Rams
But a 2-1 win over Vietnamese champions Binh Duong and a narrow loss to Thailand Premier League title holders Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) has given Home reasonable confidence on the continental stage.
“The opener against Binh Duong was a great game for us considering the fact that we lost our previous match in our local league prior to this match,” recalled Subramani.
“The team's confidence increased with the first win and it showed that we can compete at the top level. It was a great team effort.
“And we did reasonably OK (against PEA) but the result was not what we wanted.
“We had a good first half but they were better in the second half. If we had taken the chances we had in the first half, the result would have been different.
“What we have learned from those two matches is that we need to take our chances early and need to be more compact as a team so not to give space for our opponent to exploit us.”
Sound advice given that Subramani expects the 2008 Dhivehi League champions to be on the offensive when the two renew acquaintances at the National Stadium.
“We are playing away in Maldives first and I'm sure they will want to win their home match so they will be more attack-oriented. Therefore, we need to be very cautious.”
- Nick McCormack
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