RHB Singapore Cup: Tampines Rovers vs Sengkang Punggol

RHB Singapore Cup: Nakamura eyes best chance for success

Tam Cheong Yan
info@sleague.com

Tampines Rovers midfielder Akihiro Nakamura is determined to bring an end to his seven-year wait for RHB Singapore Cup glory.

And he has called on his fellow Stags to ‘concentrate’ as they take their first step towards that goal on Sunday evening, when they host Sengkang Punggol in the preliminary round.

Nakamura was part of the Balestier Khalsa team that reached the semifinals in 2006, before joining the Woodlands Wellington side that fell to SAFFC at the same stage the following year.

The Rams did go one better in 2008, but there was still no joy for the 31-year-old as he was suspended for the final, which his team lost 1-2 to the Warriors in extra time.

Having come so close so many times, and with little time left in his long career in Singapore, it is be no surprise that his desire to succeed in the tournament is greater than ever.

And he admitted on the eve of his team’s clash with Sengkang that this could be the best year to realize his dream, after the defending champions’ shock exit at the hands of Geylang United.

“When SAFFC were knocked out yesterday, I was a bit surprised,” he told sleague.com.

“But before that, they played Kashima Antlers and then went to Brunei, so the tiredness affected them, I think. Geylang pressed hard and got a result.

“Everything has changed since SAFFC are out, and now it makes me think I have a chance to be a Singapore Cup winner. I have played in Singapore for seven years, and the only final I played in was the SingTel Cup in 2007.

“The last three years, I have lost in the semifinals two times, and when Woodlands reached the final last year, I was suspended. This year I want to reach the final and get the Singapore Cup.”

A target as high as this is not without its pitfalls, though, and things can easily go wrong, even at the very first stage.

It is a point that Nakamura understands well, and he made sure to stress the message to his teammates as they approach their clash with the Dolphins.

“For us, tomorrow’s game is very important,” he said.

“We have only one chance; if we lose, even by penalties, everything is finished. This first step is the hardest, so we must concentrate.

“If we beat Sengkang, everything will be easier afterwards, because it is home-and-away. We have many experienced players who know how to play home-and-away, and if we lose the first leg, there is a chance to come back.

“Before that, we must win in the first round first.”

Nakamura’s views were echoed by Tampines coach Vorawan Chitavanich, who has declared that his only target for the team is to win on Sunday by any means necessary.

That would include a penalty shootout, which the Stags had to be put through in last year’s preliminary round when they faced, interestingly enough, Sengkang at Hougang Stadium.

That the match had even gone to penalties had surprised many given the Dolphins’ generally toothless nature up front last year, but Vorawan noted that cup tournaments were a place to expect the unexpected.

“In a cup game, nothing follows the usual rules,” noted the former Thailand international.

“A team cannot expect to win in a cup game just because it is a better team. Anything can happen, and all the players have to concentrate and play for the win.

“If we have to win again by penalties like last year, we will be prepared for it. We have been doing penalty practices, and I have already got my five penalty-takers in mind!

“During training, I have seen which players have a killer’s heart when taking penalties. I will depend on them to be killers for me if we need to play until penalties.”

Vorawan did not go any further on the subject, so just who his five killers are is anyone’s guess.

There should not be much surprise if one of them turns out to be Nakamura, a model professional who is ever willing to put old loyalties aside in pursuit of his current cause.

In facing Jorg Steinebrunner’s Sengkang, he will be lining up against his former coach at Woodlands, while leftback Zahid Ahmad is another player he had worked with in the last two years.

Suspensions to Jerry Bartholomeusz and Sazali Salleh – ironically carried over from the Rams’ campaign last year – mean that Nakamura will be facing fewer ex-colleagues, but it seems to be a secondary matter for the attacking midfielder.

Instead, his mind appears more focused on his opponents’ recent performances in the league, which he believes would make the Dolphins a tougher opponent than some of his teammates might think.

“I am not concerned about how I feel seeing Jorg or Zahid on the other team,” he said after much thought, when asked about playing against the duo.

“I am thinking more about Sengkang’s improvement in the last two games, especially against the Young Lions. They are getting better now, but I think our players may get too confident because Sengkang are still in the bottom half of the table.

“If we get overconfident, it could be a problem for us. Their performance was not good against us when they met us, but now they are better, so they may make more problems.

“But if we play the way we played in our last league game, there is a very high chance we will win tomorrow’s game.”