By now, you should have seen it all over the socials, but in case you haven’t, here it is.
Quick thoughts – this seems like an OK group for us, considering that it doesn’t contain Albirex, and all the teams in there are below us in the league table. But of course, because only Albirex is above us.
Before I share with you some questions / thoughts about the teams we are drawing, let’s take a look at how we did against these teams this season in the league.
Record Against Our Cup Opponents
Balestier Khalsa – Played 3, Won 3. Scored 13, Conceded 6. (3-0, 5-4, 5-2)
Hougang United – Played 3, Won 3. Scored 16, Conceded 2. (5-0, 3-0, 8-2)
Tanjong Pagar United – Played 3, Won 3. Scored 13, Conceded 4. (3-1, 7-1, 3-2)
I think the results speak for themselves. Of the 9 games played, we have won all 9, scoring 42 goals and conceding 12. But of course, scorelines don’t always tell the full picture.
Balestier Khalsa
I think most LCS fans will feel that the 5-4 game against Balestier Khalsa was a game where we felt there was total chaos. The recent 5-2 win was also a game where we couldn’t glean much from considering that Madhu Mohana got sent off so early in the first half. Balestier Khalsa have also played an impressive brand of progressive football this season, so they’ll be the ones we fear most going into the Cup.
Memories of last season’s 5-3 collapse in the league and the 3-3 draw in the cup are also still fresh for some traumatised fans – like me.
Hougang United
All 3 games against them were comfortable this season. If you wanna be nitpicky, the 5-0 win needed Zharfan Rohaizad to be on his best form to ensure that Hougang didn’t score against us.
However, the Hougang team was always missing one or two key players in their match-ups against us. With Maksimovic settling in, with Shahdan Sulaiman coming back to fitness, and with their managerial instability finally gone, will they be a threat to us?
Tanjong Pagar United
Strangely, despite their low position in the table, out of the 3 games against them, we actually didn’t look all too convincing in 2 of them, the 3-1 win to kick off the season, and the recent 3-2 win where we turned it around late in the game at Bishan Stadium.
They boast many experienced players, and funnily enough a good few of them were from Home Utd so there’s some history there. I’ve always had a soft spot for the team this season in games where I am a neutral, because of the presence of players like Faizal Roslan, Shahrin Saberin, Shakir Hamzah, Naqiuddin Eunos, etc.
So they could very well be dark horses. If they can somehow coax out better performances from their foreigners – they might be one to watch out for.
Makeup of Our Team
Unless we hear anything to the contrary, the foreigner quota should still be 3+1 (just like in SPL).
Who we choose for the 3+1 will be indicative of how we prioritise the cups, and perhaps even how the club decides to share the workload.
I am gonna assume that we have 3 matchdays in the group stage, then followed by 2 matchdays in the semifinal, and one matchday in the final. Of course, this assumes that we make it all the way through.
These are the foreigners on our books – Richairo Zivkovic, Maxime Lestienne, Diego Lopes, Rui Pires, Kodai Tanaka, Super, Bailey Wright, Pedro Henrique. 8 in total. Who will fill the 3+1?
With the exception of Kodai Tanaka, the rest of the foreigners all saw gametime against Spurs so we can assume that fitness-wise they are good to go. Bailey Wright and Kodai Tanaka are the Asians, so it is between them for the +1 slot. Of course, we can choose to register both of them, but that would mean we have a tricky task picking from the rest.
Will the club decide that the SG Cup is a good opportunity to play someone like Kodai Tanaka in games that are against lower-quality opposition? If so, will that mean deregistering Richairo so that he can focus on the ACL? Same with Pedro Henrique and Rui Pires, will they be given SG Cup slots to get more gametime to try to get them up to speed faster considering they have not played a lot of football at all?
Many possibilities, no answers as of yet, so I guess it’s wait and see. Personally, I would hope that given the disappointment of not winning the league title, we are not in a position to turn our nose up at any silverware. As such, I hope we we will register our strongest possible team. Let me know in the comments or in our Telegram chat if you disagree!
Cup Scheduling
I find it so strange that it is now the end of August, but yet noone knows for sure whether the group stage games will be one-off, or home-away format. The difference in terms of scheduling must be huge. There’s potentially an additional 3 games to play, and let’s not forget, we have to play them while navigating our AFC Champions League games as well.
Also, (shoutout to Kidou from the Telegram chat) for this thought – if we make it to the SG Cup Semis and Finals, the games will be within 3/4 days of our Champions League games. In case it ends up being 3 games, i would hope that there can be some flexibility from FAS to allow more rest-time before our ACL games by rescheduling cup fixtures. This has been done in English football, and although I know it’s not easy, I hope that once the fixtures are released, our club will look into it and immediately get the ball rolling in terms of making such arrangements.
Avoiding Albirex
I have seen some suggestions that it’s good that we are avoiding Albirex, who have been placed in the other group. It has also been said that we must aim to finish top of our group so that we don’t play Albirex in the semi-finals, who are likely to finish top of their group.
While I agree that it boosts our chances of advancing to the knockout stage, and is a smoother path to the final, I think the Sailors have to finish top not because we want to avoid them. We want to finish top because we want to win every single game. If and when we beat Albirex, we have to shake off any doubts in our heads, and just go out there and play the best we can.
So, bring Albirex on. They took the league from us deservedly, let’s smash them in the Cup.
Conclusion
Yup, those were some very quick thoughts! Let me know if you have any other queries. As always, hit the comments section, or talk to us in the Telegram chat. Excited for the Champions League draw!
Written by Eddy Hirono
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