Eagles relishing stronger Japanese test
Gary Koh
info@sleague.com
Geylang United will be seeking a double over Albirex Niigata (Singapore) when they face each other in Friday’s live league game at Jalan Besar.
The last time both teams met was back in mid-February, when the Eagles defeated the youthful Japanese 3-1 at Bedok.
Since the opening game of the season, the two sides endured frustrating spells in terms of form and performance.
Albirex began to settle down on the pitch after their squad was fully assembled at the end of the first player registration window in mid-March.
While the White Swans remained erratic results-wise, their increased stability and improved showings did not slip the eyes of Geylang head coach Mike Wong.
“In the last six games, Albirex have made tremendous improvement in terms of their passing, movement and mobility,” the former national age-group coach observed.
Meanwhile, the Eagles saw the stabilizing of their ship since the appointment of Wong to take sole charge of playing matters at Bedok five games ago.
Under his guidance, they went on an unbeaten run lasting four league games, including three consecutive wins, to climb places in the league table before a 1-3 away defeat at Gombak United last Thursday ended the streak.
That loss saw the dismissal of defender Baihakki Khaizan, who will serve the first of his two-match suspension on Friday, and the team’s struggles to cope with a man down.
Wong pointed out the lapses of concentration in defending that attributed to their surrender at Jurong West.
“While Geylang played well and were still attacking against Gombak with ten men, the result was not favourable for us,” he admitted.
“The lapses of concentration in defence caused us to lose the game, and we want to correct this fault ahead of the Albirex game.”
The absence of the lanky Singapore international did not perturb the coach as he retained his faith in his defence to get things right.
“We have played without Baihakki before,” he noted. “It is up to the defenders who are playing to take more responsibility for themselves and the team.”
While the Eagles will be without Baihakki, the White Swans also have suspension woes with first-choice goalkeeper Yoshito Matsushita sitting out after receiving a straight red against Balestier Khalsa in their last game.
His replacement Junichi Watanabe did not have the best of debuts as he picked the ball out of the net twice, once after he came on and the other following the opponents’ late equalizer in injury time.
He is slated to make his first full league start of the season when he mans the posts for the Japanese outfit.
Despite Watanabe’s lack of experience, Wong refutes the belief that his side will have an easier time in attack.
“Any player who makes his full debut will want to try to impress and show what he can do on the pitch,” he said.
“It would be foolish to think we would have it much easier,” he continued, further pointing out what the Eagles needed to do against a more settled Albirex outfit.
“We have taken notice of the progress they made in their previous matches and will need to pay particular attention to their off-the-ball running.”
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