Albirex Match Preview – Play for the Badge

Let’s face it, our Sailors have not played well in the last 2 months. Whatever the reason for that downfall is, we now find ourselves in a position where we only have 2 points from our opening games in the Singapore Cup, when they were games against the bottom 2 in the league. The one that hurt most will be the game against Young Lions – we play in the Mitsubishi Electric AFF Cup in December, and a team boasting so many Singapore internationals cannot beat a team with one Singapore international, and no foreigners. It was dreadful.

Pre-match comments from the players (see A fight for the badge, our fans – and pride – Lion City Sailors FC) indicate that they are eager to make amends, with Hariss Harun saying this –

“We have to do it for them, for ourselves, and for the club. When we step onto the pitch, we represent the club and we have to play for the badge on our chest with pride and fire.   

“Play for the badge” is an oft-quoted phrase. It usually means to push yourself to your limit and to do your absolute best, to live up to the history of the badge, the club, and everything it represents. However, of course, the Lion City Sailors are a very new club. I am not so sure the history of the club is foremost on the players’ minds when they step out onto the pitch.

And so perhaps a little bit of reframing would be good. Our players should think of these games as a tune-up for the AFF Cup. How’s their confidence gonna be if they’re struggling to win games against the likes of Balestier Khalsa and Young Lions? I don’t think football form is just a switch that they can turn on or off – play like crap when donning the Sailors uniform, and then come 24 December, just shake it off and do well in a Lions shirt.

But if they are to play themselves into form, they are running out of opportunities to do so. This could very well be their last match tomorrow. If we fail to win, we are then left at the mercy of Young Lions and Balestier Khalsa. Any of those 2 teams win, and it’s curtains for us.

Even as an ardent fan of the Sailors, I am not so sure I can say I feel confident heading into tomorrow’s game. We have failed to beat them in a league match since we rebranded as LCS, and our recent form has been very poor. I picked the Braveheart image because it’s blue and white, and also because I really hope our boys show some fight tomorrow. That’s all we ask for – give us a performance that we can be proud of, so that whatever the result, we can feel that they’ve done their best.

Come on you Sailors.