There are two mysteries in life – who built the Stonehenge, and why the heck was Stjepan Plazonja the Man of the Match for the match on Sunday instead of Zaiful Nizam? Zaiful Nizam made save after save, while Stjepan Plazonja spent more time shouting “WHERE IS CARD?!?!?” to whoever would listen than playing actual football. Jokes aside, I do understand why the adjudicators probably felt he had a good game. He worked hard all night on the left flank to try and contain Akram Azman and Maxime Lestienne, while also almost scoring at the end. But come on, surely the Man of the Match had to be Zaiful Nizam. And on that note, let’s dive into some brief post-match thoughts cos I really cannot focus on this game with tomorrow’s huge game coming up.
Zaiful Nizam the Real Man of the Match
Goals shape narratives, goals shape perception. The talk post-match was about how solid Hougang’s defence was, on top of Zaiful’s stellar goalkeeping. However, if two of those seven shots he saved made it in, the talk may be about the goalscorers getting important goals while the team played badly. Football is funny like that.
Header after header was saved by Zaiful – and it seemed like they increased in difficulty as the match went on. The best save was the one right before Ali Alrina’s disallowed goal. Shawal got a lot of power on the header from very close range, but Zaiful got down to the floor so quick, and stopped it from going in.
He wasn’t the only one who did well in the Hougang backline – Tajeli put in a defensive masterclass against his former side. Jordan Vestering was tested throughout and had a lot of difficulty but I like that he never gave up. Even after he should have conceded a penalty for his tackle on Akram. Which brings me to …
VAR Missed Something
At 50:45, Akram gets cleared out in the box by Jordan Vestering. It all happens very quickly so I don’t blame the ref for not spotting it. But when you slow it right down – which the VAR can do, then you can just about see that Akram gets to the ball first, and then he gets kicked.
In the grand scheme of things, this probably doesn’t matter much, and we should still have done enough ourselves to win the game and not have to rely on the referees, but you do wonder whether the VAR process can be improved. Perhaps they can do a show or something every month where they compile all the controversial decisions and then explain them? It might even help with educating the fans on what their process is.
Max Played the Whole Game
Not sure this was the plan – but I was surprised Max played the whole game. With the first half lineup being kinda strong, I think Coach Ranko’s plan was perhaps to win the game early and then bring on all the subs.
I am not sure that was the best choice – the players looked a little like they were trying to conserve themselves or at least ensure they didn’t get hurt. There wasn’t the same intensity or the same appetite to get stuck into a challenge. And I am not sure I begrudge them for it – it’s totally understandable.
The intensity only seemed to come when Hougang started kicking us around a bit and then I think personal pride took over.
But of course, Zaiful did Zaiful things, and we’ve already covered that.
Conclusion
This is the shortest post-match article ever I think, and that’s cos really the mind is pre-occupied with tomorrow’s game.
See you in the preview for that one!
COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE!
Written by Eddy Hirono
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