RHB Singapore Cup: Eagles through at holders’ expense
Basil Yeo
info@sleague.com
Geylang United booked their place in the RHB Singapore Cup quarterfinals for the first time in four seasons, dethroning defending champions SAFFC in the process with a 2-1 win at Bedok Stadium on Friday evening.
Yasir Hanapi opened the scoring for the Eagles in the first half before Syed Thaha, who turns 24 on Saturday, helped himself to an early birthday present with the decisive second.
Therdsak Chaiman managed a consolation goal for SAFFC, but it was not enough to prevent them from crashing out.
Farhan Farook made only his second start for the Eagles since joining from Home United, while John Wilkinson sat out on a ban carried over from last season.
The Warriors dominated proceedings from the start, with early attempts from the half-fit Therdsak and Shaiful Esah not causing much trouble for Yazid Yasin.
Shaiful then had the opportunity to put his side in the driving seat in the fifth minute when Thaha committed a foul on Ahmad Latiff Khamarudin, but a wicked left-footed free kick curled into the path of goalkeeper Yazid, who put it away from danger.
The hosts then had their chance to attack, as Noor Ali whipped in their first corner of the game, but Baihakki Khaizan could only manage to direct the ball across the goal and not into it.
Play soon moved to the other end of the field through a superb run of possession football by the AFC Champions League participants, but they were quickly closed down by Thaha for Walid Lounis to clear away as they edged near the danger area.
Not contented with being pressed back, the Eagles pushed forward and were almost rewarded when G. Lenan attempted a powerful shot from the left wing that failed to trouble Shahril Jantan’s goal.
SAFFC had their first real attempt on target when Shaiful’s corner was headed down by Daniel Bennett from the edge of the six-yard box, but that effort was stopped by an ever-alert Yazid.
The tired legs of the much-travelled Warriors started to show as the Eagles then moved forward again, this time with Rastislav Belicak winning the ball in a midfield duel and spreading play wide to Noor Ali, but his through ball to Miroslav Latiak was cleared out by Kenji Arai for a throw-in.
From the throw-in, the veteran captain sent in a quick cross to youngster Yasir, who skilfully feinted Kenji Arai in the heart of defence and wasted no time in slamming the opener past the goalkeeper, taking the lead for Geylang in the 29th minute.
Towards the end of the first half, the visitors won two free kicks from almost identical positions, but Shaiful sent both curling off the mark.
Early on in the second half, another two fouls conceded carelessly by the Geylang defence gifted their guests two prime opportunities to equalise, but Shaiful and Therdsak were both unable to convert.
The pressure mounted as the Warriors scoured for the equaliser in the first fifteen minutes of the second half, but Mustaqim Manzur’s cross took a wrong deflection off Latiff’s back and denied Aleksandar Duric the header opportunity.
The fatigue began to consume the champions as Farhan spotted Thaha, now moved up to midfield due to Faizal Senin’s inclusion, run along next to Hafiz Osman and played a through pass out wide.
The winger, unimpressive and careless throughout most of the game, got things perfectly right for a change as he flicked it over the unguarded Shahril and into the goal to take the lead two goals to none.
The Eagles were almost forced back to reality as they conceded a penalty within a minute, though, with Baihakki tripping Latiff in the box.
However, it was back to the drawing board for the Warriors when Therdsak hastily stepped up to convert it, only for Yazid to dive the correct way.
Jonathan Xu was brought on in a shift to a five-man defensive line, but the extra man at the back did not stop the influential Latiff from shaking off Walid’s pressure to pummel a shot into the side netting.
Noor Ali could have taken his side into dreamland when his free kick looked certain to dip into goal, but found the top of the crossbar instead.
SAFFC nearly pulled one back with twelve minutes left on the clock through bizarre circumstances. Masahiro Fukasawa’s long pass from midfield was misjudged by Yazid, who came out in a bid to collect the ball ahead of Park Tae Won and Duric.
But all three players missed the ball completely and could only look on as it bounced millimetres past the right post.
Mustaqim then spotted Yazid off his line and placed a perfect cross for a perfectly timed header from Park, but the goalkeeper leapt and executed a brilliant one-handed save to deny the Korean.
The Warriors’ efforts to score paid off in the final minute, when Therdsak sneaked in a consolation from close-range after the Eagles’ defence failed to contain a late attack, but it was too late for the defending champions, who now find themselves without any Singapore Cup action till next season.
“I think they took their chances and we didn’t take ours,” said a slightly disappointed Richard Bok, head coach of SAFFC.
“Although we are still a bit tired, like I said, they had two or three chances and they took it, and for us we didn’t, although we had plenty of chances.
“In football, if you don’t score goals you don’t win.”
The 39-year-old was uncertain when asked if anything good came out from the game.
“I’m still trying to find positives,” he said.
On the other hand, Eagles coach Mike Wong put his team’s victory down to determination and eagerness to prove their critics wrong.
“The urgency to win from these boys is much higher than the last game we played against the Young Lions,” said Wong.
“We just want to prove to everybody that the last three games we won before that game was no fluke.
“It’s a live game, we just wanted to go out and enjoy ourselves, we just had to keep our discipline and that’s about it.
“Every game now is like a cup final to us as we didn’t start out well in the league,” continued the coach, who has not seen a defeat since he took charge.
“As for morale, we just have to keep going and do the right thing, and then we won’t go wrong.”
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