Author name: Eddy Hirono

The upcoming ACL campaign somehow feels even bigger than last year’s. I am not sure what it is. Perhaps in an era where Covid-19 dominates the headlines, football takes a bit of a backseat? Or maybe it’s the largely-empty stadiums? Another factor could be that last year’s Champions League campaign was played in a centralised format, and all 4 teams of our group were in Buriram for about a month and played all their games back to back. There was no home crowd cheering our players on, or that of our opponents. Urawa Red Diamonds have to be commended for making their matches against us feel like home games with the strength of their away support – both in terms of numbers and loudness. I have told this story before to my friends, but what impressed me about them was not just that they were strong in numbers, and very loud. What impressed me most was that when I started chanting alone in the cavernous Thunder Castle (Buriram’s home stadium), they had the grace to allow me to chant out loud in support of my team for a few minutes. And I knew it was not coincidence, because whenever I stopped chanting, they would start a new chant. They could easily have used their hundreds of voices to drown me out, but they did not. I guess that’s the beauty of football, and an example of how fans can put their support of the team to one side, and respect fellow fans of their opponents. Even in the lead-up to this round of ACL games, I have experienced the warmth and generosity of fans online who have stepped up to help me with this article. Let’s dive straight into the preview. Our Opponents If you haven’t read the pre-preview of our tie against Bangkok United, please go and do so here. Huge shout-out again to Matt Jenkins for his contribution. Just a recap of what he said – You’ll meet a strong BUFC side. With our stalwart Brazilian centreback Everton captaining the side, and organising a back four that’s pretty much all Thai / or Thai-German, sitting in front of Pattiwat the Thai national 2nd goalkeeper. Midfield normally sets up as a 3 or 4, with strong Thai influence, who run and run, again 2 or 3 here in the national side. The front line is made up of Mahmoud Eid, a Palestinian forward who drops deep and plays across the front, Willen Mota, a Brazilian who plays more centrally, and Rungrath, another Thai who offers more width and can easily slip back into midfield. Matt Jenkins – Bangkok United fan This was how our opponents lined up in their last league game against Sukhothai United, and it is highly likely that they will go with the exact same players. I have done some checking and of the four league games played so far, these players (with the exception of no. 26 Suphan Thongsong) have started all four games, and are flying in the league right now. 3 wins and a draw, with several players looking very bright. The night was spent looking at these players in their first 4 fixtures, and my oh my, will we have a huge task on our hands. The summary of what I have seen is this. They have a multi-talented midfield that is very athletic, capable of defending, capable of arriving late into the box to score, capable of breaking at pace, and capable of making killer passes into their lethal front 3. Mahmoud Eid is gonna be hell to defend, because he is big, strong and fast. Rungrat is capable on both feet and loves taking on his man. Willen Mota is a constant threat as he flits around in the frontline, sometimes dropping deep to connect with the rest of his teammates. In the backline, Everton is a strong presence (unlike in the English Premier League, haha), while Nitipong at right back is a real menace in attack, because he bombs on down the right flank with purpose, and has a hell of a cross on him. I could go on and on about how good Bangkok United is, but let’s focus on Mahmoud Eid. Mahmoud Eid Mahmoud Eid is a Palestinian international who was born in Sweden. He is 30 years old now, and the biggest name on his CV is Kalmar FF, a Swedish top division team, where he played for about 5 years. His career prior to that was predominantly in the Swedish 2nd and 3rd division, where he scored a respectable amount of goals. Nothing crazy though. Last season at Bangkok United is where he really caught the eye – in the league he notched up 10 goals and 4 assists from 26 games, and he wasn’t even the main striker. The main attacking threat in the team was the excellent Heberty, who has since moved on to join JDT. This season, he has 3 goals and 3 assists from 4 games. His size makes it seem like he’d be a classic target man, but while his physique allows him to hold up the ball well and bully defenders in the air, his mobility and composure on the ball in the finish is what our defence definitely has to keep an eye on. How Will We Line Up? Since the Spurs game, our fans and pundits have been speculating that we may line up in the ACL with a back 3 – Super and Pedro flanking Bailey Wright as the central centre-back, Hafiz Nor and Chris van Huizen on the outside as overlapping wingbacks providing width. This might well be the situation for us tonight, though Bailey Wright’s absence at the weekend does call into question whether or not he is fit enough to start tonight. If he isn’t fit, we will still be able to call upon the likes of Hariss Harun and Lionel Tan to fill in at the back. While it will be

“Dead rubber” is a weird term. I don’t quite know for sure why a meaningless game is called a dead rubber, and it seems that even a quick Google doesn’t answer that question 100%. There’s talk of the term originating from “rubber bridge”, a version of the card game, bridge. There’s also talk of the term originating from “rubber” being another word for eraser, and since in some games where you keep the score, you erase the score from the previous game before you go on to the next, a “dead rubber” meant a useless erasing of the score because the next game doesn’t really matter. I’d dig further, but then SailorFanTalk becomes an altogether different website so I didn’t. Answers in the comments are welcome. Dead Rubber for Both Teams Potentially We’ve all known for weeks now that Albirex have been crowned champions, and Tampines’s horrible slump in form has meant that we can’t be caught. So it’s a dead rubber for us. Had Balestier got even a point in their last game, it would be a dead rubber for Geylang as well. However, a loss in their last game has meant that should Geylang beat us tomorrow, they might end up in the top half of the table. All this, provided Balestier don’t get a single point against Tampines Rovers later today. If Balestier get a point, then it’s a dead rubber for Geylang as well. Could this possibly peter out into a nothing game? I honestly have no clue. There are too many possible permutations that might play out. Fringe players may see this as a chance to impress and perhaps force their way into Rankovic’s plans. This may be used as a game to give competitive minutes for players who have lacked minutes in their tank. For example, Rui Pires, who impressed on “debut” against Spurs, is definitely going to start against Bangkok United. Are we gonna throw him in without him at least getting some competitive minutes in the league? But if you do start him, what if he gets injured? Will the players give a little less when it comes to tackles and 50-50s, knowing that any injury rules them out of the Champions League and Singapore Cup games? Will Coach Rankovic feel that a win is the best way to keep the momentum? Too difficult to predict what is going to happen! What Formation Will We Line Up In? We’ve seen how the Sailors lined up against Spurs, a solid five at the back featuring three central defenders and two wingbacks. Coach Rankovic mentioned in a recent interview (around the 4:40 mark) that this is an option that we may use in the Champions League. He mentioned how we would probably use it against opponents who dominate possession. The aim probably is to remain solid at the back, and then pick and choose moments to counter-attack and score. Regular followers of SailorFanTalk will also remember Richairo Zivkovic discussing this very topic, when he said that sometimes in the ACL we will be under great pressure, and if we have good counter-attacking opportunities, they may be our best chances to score. If so, will we see it against Geylang, given that they are not likely to dominate possession? Would it be wise to use this game as a dress rehearsal for the Bangkok United game even if the opponents are likely to be very different in ability and style? Potential Debut for Harith? Given that Nur Adam is suspended for this game, I think there is a good chance we see Harith Kanadi line up against his former club. It will be good for him to get minutes for the club, especially if rumours surrounding Nur Adam’s enlistment prove to be accurate and we miss him for much of the Champions League campaign. As I understand, the club played two friendlies during and before the international break, and Harith played a part in both those games. Maybe us Sailors fans will get to see him in action! If he does play, he will be directly up against Yushi Yamaya. I’d call that a baptism of fire of sorts, given that Yushi is one of the best right-wingers in the league, and definitely the most dangerous player we will face tomorrow, given that Vincent Bezecourt is out of action. He is basically their mini-Maxime, a talented left-footed right winger who leads the team in both goals and assists. 9 goals and 7 assists for Yushi, allied with his direct running style – it will be some test for Harith. One person Harith will be relieved not to see is Arshad Shamim, who I believe will be ineligible for this game given that he is on loan from us. Imagine having to defend against Yushi cuttiing inside and Arshad making the outside run – nightmare. Does Maxime Lestienne Have to Perform Once More? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Maxime Lestienne has to be Player of the Season. 25 goals and 21 assists in 23 games. What kind of stats are those? It’s pure fantasy stuff. 2 goal contributions a game. And it’s not just quantity – it’s quality as well. Some of the goals and assists have been breathtaking. That performance in Our Tampines Hub where he basically turned into a UK fast food cashier, asking “and would you like chips with that?” I heard that even now, Syazwan Buhari still looks up into the sky occasionally to check for flying balls. That time against Geylang when we were far from our best, Mamat kept us in the game with some blocks, and then up stepped Maxime to curl home two brilliant free kicks. I am sure Hafiz Ahmad is still sick of the sight of him. The back-flick goal against Hougang United. Oh, how Hougang must hate him. 3 games played, 4 goals 6 assists from the brilliant Belgian. He’s only had 3 games all season where he did not

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,