May 13, 2025

This is gonna be the shortest preview ever. Motivation to Win This Game Both Coach Ranko and Lionel said the right things in the build-up to this game. Lionel said on the official preview for the club website that anyone who puts on the Sailors shirt must bring that “character and winning mentality to the pitch” and “whoever lines up on the day will give everything to finish strong and take home the three points“. When I spoke with Coach Ranko after we sealed the title, he said that he would still put out a strong lineup, they still want to win the game, set new records etc. But come on – surely, surely, there will be one eye, or if not, both eyes on this Sunday’s final? It doesn’t get much bigger than a continental final against West Asian opponents Sh**jah FC. I hope this is seen as an opportunity to let our fringe players play, let those who need minutes or match sharpness play, and perhaps let our fans witness the promise of some of the U21 players. Let’s wrap people up in cotton wool and keep them ready for the final. Bart and Song Song injured his head against Young Lions, and it was pretty good to see him back in the team last time out. That meant the injury wasn’t as serious as first thought. Bart is a worry though – he is easily one of our 3 most important players, if not the most important based on performances over the ACL2 campaign. When he wasn’t in the lineup for the Geylang game, I assumed he was being rested, but as discussed in the post-match thoughts article after the Tanjong Pagar game, two absences in a row does not bode well. Let’s hope he sees some minutes tomorrow night! Sh**jah FC Resting Players Our opponents played in the President’s Cup Final 4 days ago, and fielded ostensibly their strongest line-up. However, last night, they started only 4 of the 11 that started on Sunday night. And of the 4, 3 of them were subbed off at half-time. Coach Ranko, please please consider doing the same. Maybe if I ask enough times, we will manifest it. Crucially, top-scorer Caio was fully rested. That’s not good. We’ll want our guys as fresh as possible. Balestier’s Form Balestier Khalsa come into this game in pretty good form. In fact, prior to Sunday’s topsy-turvy defeat to DPMM, they had been unbeaten since the middle of March, when we beat them 4-1. Since then, they’ve registered impressive wins against Hougang, Young Lions, and of course, BG Tampines, in a match that all but handed us the title. They will look to get a point or 3 to consolidate their grip on 4th spot, even though 3rd is out of reach. Masahiro Sugita will feature, after his suspension was successfully appealed by Balestier. Conclusion I don’t really give a damn what happens in this game. I’ll be there for the trophy lift, but really, I hope that none of our players go down with any injuries. That’s all. COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! (but if the chance to siam a tackle is there, pls siam it) My predicted line-up Zharfan Rohaizad Akram Azman, Lionel Tan, Ali Alrina, Toni Datkovic, Sergio Carmona Song Ui-Young, Anu Obren Kljajic, Abdul Rasaq, Hafiz Nor Score Prediction Joseph and I predict the scores and track our success in a table. Stay tuned to find out who is the prediction king! Eddy’s prediction: Sailors 2 Balestier Khalsa 2 Joseph’s prediction: Sailors 1 Balestier Khalsa 1 Written by Eddy Hirono If you’d like to support the work we do here at SailorFanTalk, you may want to visit https://ko-fi.com/sailorfantalk and leave us a tip!