Let’s get one thing quickly out of the way. Congratulations to Albirex Niigata (S) – worthy winners of the SPL title. They are the standard-bearers in the league and I genuinely hope that they stay forever, so that any local team that wants to gauge their improvement has this high bar with which they can compare themselves with. Winning the title against Albirex, heck, even winning games against Albirex is always such a special feeling because we all know the vast disparity between the grassroots football system in Singapore and the system in Japan.
But I digress -you came here to read about why tomorrow’s game is the toughest Hougang game this season, so let’s go through some of my thoughts ahead of tomorrow’s match.
We Want a Win
You might think that since we cannot win the title, tomorrow’s match is not that important. I don’t think that’s true. I think the players will be annoyed and upset that they could not win the title this season, or make the title race even more exciting. That the title has been mathematically decided with 2 games to spare, and realistically a foregone conclusion a few games ago, will sting.
Getting 2nd is important not just because of continental qualification. It is also a matter of pride. Tampines Rovers have done really well to stay in the title race for so long, but a club of Sailors’ might and resources should not be anywhere close to Tampines in my opinion.
A win against Hougang will guarantee 2nd spot for the Sailors. Technically, they could win the next game against Geylang too, but that match is all the way on 16 September. And that date is important why? Because of our AFC Champions League fixtures. Below is our provisional Champions League dates. (Source – https://fas.org.sg/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/AFC-Competitions-Calendar-Aug-2023-Jul-2024.pdf)
Matchday 1 – 19/20 Sep
Matchday 2 – 3/4 Oct
Matchday 3 – 24/25 Oct
Matchday 4 – 7/8 Nov
Matchday 5 – 28/29 Nov
Matchday 6 – 12/13 Dec
You probably don’t need me to break down in detail why we would want to sew up 2nd spot without leaving it to the 16 Sep game against Geylang. We will want to be 101% focused on our opening matchday fixture against what is likely to be far superior opposition. If we wrap up 2nd spot tomorrow, we can even afford to play youngsters/reserves against Geylang. That could give us more of a physical edge when it comes to the Champions League.
Mobile Maksimovic
I have been quite impresseed by Maksimovic since he came into the Hougang lineup. Of course, it’s easy to do better than Brian Ferreira, but even judging him on merit, he has 4 goals and 3 assists in 616 minutes of play – that is very impressive. That’s 1 goal contribution every 88 minutes. Part of why he has been so effective is his mobility. He has good pace on him and he is always making runs to try to create space for his teammates (usually Krajcek). He will be looking for more goals tomorrow so our defence has gotta keep an eye on him.
Hougang’s Lineup
The last time we played Hougang, they didn’t have Zulfahmi Arifin playing for them. With Shahdan Sulaiman also out, that effectively meant they played us without anyone able to control central midfield. This is particularly important to how Coach Marko Kraljevic plays. Those with a good memory may already be twitching and calling me out – come on Eddy, Zulfahmi played when we thrashed Hougang 5-0. Ah, but that’s slightly different. In the 5-0 game the Sailors scored half their goals by waiting for a Hougang attack to break down, and then swiftly countering. The coach then was Firdaus Kassim, who seemed to favour a more possession-based style of play.
Zulfahmi’s supreme ball-playing ability will be dangerous to us under Coach Marko because of the slightly more pragmatic style under him. We’ve already seen it in the last few games or so – Zulfahmi’s ability to spread the ball with his left foot wondrously helps turn defence into attack at the flick of a switch. That he was unavailable against us last time out was a stroke of luck – he had a little surgery that he had to do and so didn’t play us.
In defence, the difference is that the last time they played us, they did not have their defenders available. Kuriyama was not playing. Since then, they have even added old boy Abdil Qaiyyim into the mix, so they even have strength in depth should they need it.
And of course, the first time Hougang played us, they used Brian Ferreira, who is a liability. And the second time they played us, was Maksimovic’s first game for them. This time around, we’d do very well to continue to keep a clean sheet against them.
Last but not least, Shahdan Sulaiman – I don’t know how his recovery is going, but just purely based on the fact that he is an ex-Sailor, I hope to see him back in action soon. Singapore football needs him back.
Form and Incentive
Hougang come into this one in great form. 4 wins in 4. These wins include wins against Geylang and Balestier, so really, no slouches.
After a disastrous start to the season, it is somewhat amazing that they are still in a position to finish 4th, in the top half. If they win all 3 remaining games, they will be on 37 points, and will just need Balestier Khalsa to drop points in their remaining games.
Just like us, Hougang can be said to have under-achieved given their resources and who they have on their roster, and as such, they will be hoping to at least gain some respect back by finishing 4th or 5th.
Conclusion
As with most of my previews, while we can say how this factor and that factor give our opponents a bit more of an edge here and there, what is undoubtedly true is with the exception of games against Albirex, we are clear favourites in every game. This match is no different. Imagine if I wrote this preview but focussed on how good our Sailors are. It’s completely pointless. You don’t need me to tell you how good Maxime Lestienne and Richairo Zivkovic are. Adam Swandi recently referred to our attack as “crazy” and he is right. It’s actually insane how Zivkovic is playing for us, just months after finishing a full season of Eredivisie football.
And Hougang have never seen us play with Zivkovic yet, so 🙂
We’re favourites to win still, but it might not be entirely smooth-sailing, given Hougang’s improvement and recent form.
COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE!
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!
3 points for exact scoreline predicted correctly, 2 points for predicting the winner and margin of victory correctly (but not the exact scoreline), and 1 point for predicting the outcome correctly (win, lose or draw).
Eddy’s prediction: HOU 1 LCS 3
Joseph’s prediction: HOU 2 LCS 4
And here’s the leaderboard –
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