Match Previews

Hi guys, I’m writing this preview instead of Eddy, as he is still recovering from some post-skydiving trauma from Sydney. [Editor’s Note]: The only trauma suffered in Sydney was by the Sydney FC fans in their superb stadium. And yes, I know I still owe you guys the post-match reports but life has been super busy, soz. We’ve had a bit of a break since our last game 9 days ago, but it certainly hasn’t felt that way given the constant media coverage surrounding Sailors’ advancing to the ACL2 and Sharjah FC’s whining statement regarding the finals venue. The Sailors finally return to league action on Friday night against Albirex, but this time at Our Tampines Hub (OTH) instead of Jurong, as OTH will serve as the central venue for all SPL games for the next 2 weeks since most other stadiums are being used for election rallies. Will the boys be able to settle back into the SPL grind after the highs of that magical night at the Allianz? Are Albirex really as bad as their recent results suggest? Is OTH, with its artificial pitch, a suitable stadium befitting an SPL game of this size? Let’s find out together. A Team in Deceptively Good Form On paper, Albirex have not been doing well in their recent games, with only 1 win in the last 5 league games and also knocked out of the Singapore Cup. However, if we delve a little deeper using our expected points method, we find that Albirex have actually been putting up decent performances and have perhaps been on the wrong side of variance, suggesting that they should not be taken lightly. Referring to the table below, Albirex have regularly been out-performing their league opponents on xG, winning on xG in 4 out of the last 5 games. They were expected to pick up an average of 8 points from this run, but instead only managed 4. In their last game, they somehow managed to lose 0-3 despite dominating on possession and passing stats and only conceding 6 shots. However, even with that dismal run of results, Albirex are still 4th in the table behind Sailors, Tampines, and Tomoyuki Doi. [Editor’s Note: Well, when Chin Heng sent this to me, it was before Balestier Khalsa won 2-1 in the Tajeli Salamat Derby. Balestier Khalsa is now 4th, Albirex are 5th.] Lack of Goal Threat Despite their solid underlying performances, Albirex may still struggle to find a consistent goal threat against the best defence in the league, with Sailors conceding only 1.04 goals and 1.15xG per game on average in the SPL. Albirex only has 1 player with more than 10 goal contributions in the league this season (Shingo Nakano, with 19 goals and 1 assist), and with first-team regulars Syed Firdaus and Arshad Shamim also suspended, the Swans may find goal-scoring opportunities hard to come by. No Need for Rotation Sailors on the other hand, have an embarrassment of riches going forward, with Bart/Lennart/Maxime/Shawal combining for 108 goal involvements in the league alone. While squad rotation has been a concern in recent months with Sailors playing games every 3-4 days, there should be no such issue for this game given that we had 9 days rest after our ACL2 semi-final 2nd leg, and we also have another 5 days before a very winnable league game against Young Lions next Wednesday. With a well-rested squad and a hectic end to the season on the horizon, I expect that Coach Ranko will be hoping to secure the league title as soon as possible to give us some breathing room in May, when we have the ACL2 final, Cup Semifinal and (hopefully!) Cup Final to contend with. Despite going up against one of the best keepers in the league, we can expect that the team to have no problem scoring goals, as Sailors tend to create high quality chances. 91% of our league goals so far have come from inside the penalty box, with 24% coming from the 6-yard box. Among players with 10 or more shots in the league this season, 3 of the top 10 players on the xG per shot stat are from LCS, indicating our ability to generate high quality goal-scoring opportunities. Interestingly, the top performer on this stat is actually Abdul Rasaq on 0.3 xG/shot, which shows his ability to get into great goal-scoring positions. Conclusion I look left look right, and I really cannot see anything stopping us from getting a routine win at Our Tampines Hub. While the underlying stats show that Albirex have been putting up reasonably strong performances unlike what their results suggest, our well-rested squad should have too much firepower for them to handle. Hopefully Albirex lets in 5 goals (like Marine Parade) on Friday night! COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! Eddy’s predicted line-up Izwan Mahbud Akram Azman, Lionel Tan, Bailey Wright, Toni Datkovic, Diogo Costa Rui Pires, Song Ui-Young Maxime Lestienne, Lennart Thy, Bart Ramselaar 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: Albirex 0 Sailors 4 Joseph’s prediction: Albirex 1 Sailors 4 Written by Tan Chin Heng 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!

I feel like this season we’ve had a few high-pressure games already. I don’t have to rehash our journey and how we got here – maybe I’ll do that if we get to the final. But you know the games I am talking about. The thing about pressure is this – much like how a muscle that you train gets stronger and stronger, I think your brain starts getting used to pressure until it becomes the baseline. What used to be a high-pressure situation, is now just normal-pressure. What used to be normal-pressure, is now no-pressure. You get the drift. I think the players now are used to such high-pressure situations. And this is our biggest game of the season (so far). Holding a 2-0 lead and having to defend it in Sydney will not be easy. But in the wise words of Linying – we did it before, and we’ll do it again. Let’s jump right into the preview. The First Leg Result Could Have Been Very Different Our defence held very firm in the first leg, and Izwan only had 2 shots to deal with. However, you may remember that when Segecic came on, he had 2 shots that really, on another day, could have gone in. One whizzed past the post, while the other was denied by a great block from Bailey Wright. There are only so many things you can control on any given matchday, and while you can work on minimising chances, it’s sometimes hard to control whether your opponents are clinical. Sydney FC themselves may feel hard done by, because they limited us to 3 shots on target, and frankly the only one that was a good chance, was well-saved by their keeper. Bart Ramselaar’s goal is one for the ages, while Lennart Thy’s goal was also struck from a very improbable angle. On another day, Bart hits the bar, Lennart hits the post, and we’re looking at a very different equation. All that waffle isn’t to say that Sydney FC is definitely gonna beat us. Essentially all I did, was to tell you that football is a high-variance sport – the better team doesn’t always win. I am just saying that I am not getting carried away just yet, and I think tomorrow is gonna be a super tough game. Douglas Costa Fully Rested Sydney FC faced top-of-the-table Auckland FC at the weekend and drew 2-2 (with Segecic scoring both goals), but there were 2 notable absentees – Douglas Costa and Patryk Klimala. There are some murmurs that Klimala has an injury, but Douglas Costa being left out shows you that Sydney FC have really prioritised tomorrow night’s game. They took a huge risk in doing so – had they lost that game, the sides below them would have been able to catch them out. Klimala has 6 goals and 3 assists in the ACL2 and is one of the undoubted dangermen. Our defence gave him very little space in the first leg, but it won’t be as easy in the slightly wider pitch in Sydney. Also, I don’t like the word “niggle” in the tweet above. I want something a little more concrete. A niggle sounds like he stepped on a Lego brick and his toe is a little swollen for a couple of days. Would have been nice if it was something like more concrete, like “Patryk Klimala misses out with a bout of chicken pox” – now that would be great cos it would mean he definitely wouldn’t be playing. I expect this “niggle” was nothing more than Sydney FC resting him for what is a very important match. Douglas Costa was invisible at Jalan Besar. After the game, I made the joke to a few friends, that Sydney FC would have played better if Douglas Costa was on the pitch. Jokes aside, he is obviously still a world-class player, and we will need to be very wary of him. Park the Bus? Parking the bus sounds like the logical thing to do, when you are 2-0 up away from home, but it won’t be easy to do that. Sydney FC have shown their weaknesses at the back, but they are joint-2nd in the A-League when it comes to goals scored. If you defend a bit too deep, you invite the likes of Douglas Costa, Adrian Segecic, Patryk Klimala, and Joe Lolley to take shots from range. They are all adept at doing that, so if we do that, we risk getting caught out. Adrian Segecic scored from here at the weekend. And because that wasn’t challenging enough for him, 20 minutes later he scored from out here. Both times, the ball rocketed into the top corner. Park the bus at your own peril. I think the key to tomorrow’s game is of course to defend well, but we must also carry a threat up top. Our ACL2 campaign has seen us achieve some crazy results, but they’ve always featured goals. It’s not been a campaign where we ground out results from sitting deep and forcing 0-0 results. As much as I fear Klimala, Segecic, Costa, I think they will also fear Shawal, Lennart, Maxime, Bart and Song. These players have stepped up for us at different points in our campaign so far, and tomorrow we will look to them for inspiration again. Hopefully, Coach Ranko sets us up in a way that allows their attacking talents to shine as well. Conditions Our previous away trips to colder climates have seen us really struggle. Jeonbuk we lost 3-0, Sanfrecce Hiroshima we lost 6-1, and Zhejiang we lost 4-2. Of course, the quality of the teams is also a factor – it is not just the weather. However, you can’t help feel that perhaps there are two factors when it comes to colder weather. We will see Sydney’s physicality come through a bit more tomorrow night, but hey we have a 2-0 lead. Hopefully we have a solid plan to

First – in case you’re wondering, nope, I did not forget to write a post-match thoughts article to recap Wednesday night’s fantastic game and atmosphere. Given the rushed schedule I faced over the last few days – preparing for a new episode of the Kicking & Screaming podcast, editing the videos for upload on SailorFanTalk’s social media pages, and of course my full-time day job), a hurriedly-prepared article wouldn’t do justice to such a momentous night. The intention is to come back years later and read these post-match thoughts articles to really soak it all in once again. All the emotions, all the feelings, all the thoughts. And so that brings us to a first on SFT, where the preview of the next game is published before the post-match thoughts article for the prior game. The title says it all really, we should rotate, but it should still prove to be no obstacle for us to record three points at home, and push us that bit closer to our SPL title. Let’s go. No Miguel Oliveira Miguel Oliveira is DPMM’s Maxime Lestienne. He’s got 9 goals and 5 assists this season. That’s 14 goal contributions, and DPMM have only scored 37 goals. And he is suspended, wheee! We’ve put together a little table above that isn’t meant to be exhaustive. I’ve just taken some of the big-hitters from other clubs and plonked their names in there so you get a little context. Basically, this is a huge loss for DPMM, especially because they are already so goal-shy, and Hakeme Yazid looks unlikely to play in this game as well due to his rumoured suspension. Since that ill-fated trip to Russia, Hakeme has only featured once. It seems he isn’t allowed to travel out of Brunei, and since most of their games are away from home because their stadium is apparently allergic to football, he hasn’t been playing much as well. Davis Ikaunieks has 7 goals from 11 games (league and cup), and seems to have overcome a slightly slow start to life in Brunei. However, without Miguel Oliveira on the pitch, I fancy our defenders to be able to deal with anything they throw at us. Also, credit to the SPL for their timely preview article, from which I gathered that Miguel Oliveira would be suspended for tomorrow’s game. We may still not have a topscorers list or any other stats, but this is a good start. Please put up a yellow and red cards table too next season so fans and content creators can keep up to date! Rotation Ahead of the Sydney FC Game in Midweek As supporters, we want to rest everyone who played against Sydney in midweek. We know that we can afford to lose this game, we know that we really don’t want to see anyone come off injured. However, time and again, we’ve seen that generally isn’t what Coach Ranko likes to do, except when it was against Tampines Rovers earlier this season. We had just been pumped 5-0 by Cong An Ha Noi, and were going up against the other team to pump us 5-0 this season, BG Tampines Rovers. Sure, the gap between both games was only 3 days, but surely no one expected this amount of rotation – Of course, seeing how Coach Ranko rotates the team now, I think it’s more likely that this lineup was to punish those who played so poorly in Vietnam, or at least send a message to them. Coach Ranko may also look ahead to beyond the Sydney game to realise that we have another 6 days after to rest and recharge before we face DPMM again. Coach Ranko may also think about how good our Sailors looked on Wednesday, and how much of it was due to the commanding nature of the 8-0 win in the league prior to that. I can’t quite say what Coach Ranko will do, but given the form of Lennart Thy, Bart Ramselaar, and our defence, I’d be tempted to keep them off the pitch to ensure they are fit for the upcoming game. Sydney FC Have a Big Game of Their Own While we take on DPMM, Sydney FC also have a game this weekend, and it’s a big one. Auckland FC are their opponents who are top of the pile looking comfortable. Sydney FC are in the top 6 spots, which are crucial, because only the top 6 teams in the A-League regular season go on to play the finals series. For that to happen, Sydney FC must fend off the challenge of Adelaide United and Macarthur FC (former home of Sailors legend Valere Germain). Sydney FC absolutely cannot afford to rest players for this game, so that’s advantage for us ahead of Wednesday. Let’s hope for a 2-1 loss right at the death, with both Auckland goals coming in the 90+ minutes, and in the fury that ensues after, 12 players end up getting involved in a fight that results in minor injuries, just major enough to stop them from playing on Wednesday. Conclusion It’s likely to be another slightly low-key affair tomorrow night at Bishan Stadium, but of course, what could possibly compare to the emotions and highs of Wednesday? Let’s hope we see some fresh legs come in to help us keep our lead at the top comfortable. COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! My predicted line-up Izwan Mahbud Akram Azman, Lionel Tan, Bailey Wright, Toni Datkovic, Sergio Carmona Hami Syahin, Song Ui-Young Shawal Anuar, Abdul Rasaq, Maxime Lestienne 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 4 DPMM 0 Joseph’s prediction: Sailors 4 DPMM 1 Written by Eddy Hirono  Picture credit – Lion City Sailors 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!

Ok – the title wasn’t just because I had to let out a Dad joke that’s been brewing in my mind for a couple of days. I think a legitimate point can be made about the order in which you play your home and away legs having a great impact on strategy. When you play your first leg away in the absence of the away goals rule, it really suits the Sailors’ game. We can afford to be a bit more conservative, and wait for our opponents to make the first move. I think many of us would describe the Sailors as a team that thrives on transitions, and so if we had the first leg in Sydney, we could have perhaps taken advantage of space left on the counter-attack. We could also just try to remain solid throughout, knowing that if we survive with a draw in the away leg, we have a good chance of getting the goals at Jalan Besar. It’s a huge game in the club’s history, and I can’t wait for it to get started. But first, as is customary, the lowdown from Joseph Chin. The Lowdown on Sydney FC (By Joseph Chin) Origin The Sky Blues were founded in 2004 as part of an ambitious project by the Australian football authorities to introduce a unified professional football league. Previously, it was a mixture of several semi-professional state-level competitions. They are 5-time league winners and had also won the 2005 Oceanian Champions League (before Australian clubs came under the banner of AFC). Uniquely, this means they are actually the only city in the world to achieve two continental titles from DIFFERENT continents – Sydney’s 2005 OCL win, plus Western Sydney Wanderer’s 2014 win in the ACL. Sydney FC will hope to go all the way, which will then make Sydney the only city to have won both the ACL and ACL2 trophies. Legends Dwight Yorke – their first ever marquee signing. The former Manchester United striker of the noughties made waves as a huge signing for the A-League at the time, and scored 7 goals in 22 appearances, including being named the Player of the Match in the A-League Grand Final. Alessandro del Piero – World Cup winner and Juventus legend who made his mark in Sydney FC history as well. 24 goals in 48 appearances endeared him to the fans and meant that even though he became the A-League’s highest-paid player in history when he made his move from Juve at the grand old age of 38, he was seen as having a positive impact on the A-League. Bernie Ibini – A cult hero for both Sydney teams, unfortunately it never quite happened with us, as he left us with zero goals after 8 appearances. Signed as a mid-season emergency replacement after Kodai Tanaka was injured against Albirex, Bernie’s failure to get goals instead paved the way for Abdul Rasaq’s breakthrough season. The Man in the Hot Seat Ufuk Talay is one of only two former Sydney FC players to have been both player and manager. The native Sydneysider of Turkish descent enjoyed a decent playing career, both in his adopted and ancestral homelands before returning home to great success at Sydney. As part of the pioneer batch of players in the A-League, the former Galatasaray midfielder’s experience in key moments of their history (winning the 05/06 Grand Final and debuting in the 2007 Champions League) will be crucial for their chances as they seek to write new chapters in their history in their 20th anniversary year. Of course, we will also be hoping to help them write a negative chapter in their history tonight. Ones to Watch The Big Boss – Douglas Costa: Probably the biggest name player to pitch up in the Eastern side of the ACL2 draw. Having won 3 Bundesliga and 3 Serie A titles, as well as the Club World Cup, the tricky winger is one to watch in his globetrotting career that also included stops in Brazil (Gremio and Fluminense) and LA Galaxy. Captain – Rhyan Grant: Runaway record appearance holder for Sydney FC, cementing his legendary status and captaincy with his 311 appearances for his sole senior club after graduating from the prestigious Australian Institute of Sport in 2008 (kinda like our Sports School). Not related to the other Grant in defence, Alex Grant. Hotshot – Patryk Klimala: The Legia Warsaw youth product has had quite a journeyman career spanning 3 continents at the age of 26. A decent young striker with Celtic and NY Red Bulls in the pandemic years, the Polish age-group international has finally found his best form in Australia. In the ACL2, he has 6 goals so far, 1 behind our very own Shawal Anuar (or 2 if you count his goal against Sanfrecce Hiroshima). Man Between the Posts – Harrison Devenish-Meares: Remarkably, he dislodged long-time stalwart and Australian international goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne from the starting XI this season. All the more impressive when you consider that he has taken an unconventional route to professional football, featuring in US college soccer, and a youth stint at Romanian club Rapid Bucharest. Sydney FC is his hometown club and he sometimes defends the goal like his life depends on it. English Leagues – Joe Lolley: Joe briefly featured for Huddersfield Town when they were up in the Premier League but will be known more in England for his long stint with Nottingham Forest when they were a Championship club. He scored 24 times for them in 159 appearances. This season he has 9 goals and 7 assists in 20 A-League matches. He will be one to keep an eye on. Young and Dangerous – Adrian Segecic: Segecic is the crown jewel of the Sydney youth talent pipeline. The Australia youth international has used his sole season in the Netherlands (with 2nd division Dordrecht) to hone his attacking instincts on the wings, prior to his breakthrough season this year. 10 goals and 2 assists in

On paper, this is a no-brainer – comfortable Lion City Sailors win. It’s top v second-bottom team in the league. What could go wrong? Let’s dive right into some quick thoughts on why Young Lions shouldn’t be underestimated, and also why we might not have it all our way tonight. Young Lions Picking Up Form While YL’s position looks bad, a closer inspection of the table shows that they are actually right on the tail of DPMM and Hougang United, especially if you take into account their game in hand. Impressively, even after losing top-scorer Itsuki Enomoto to BG Tampines in the transfer window, they seem to have picked up some positive results in 2025. Many people, myself included, predicted that they would fall away, but the stats paint a different picture. The stats would suggest that the team has more than made up for Enomoto’s absence, with the goals coming from other sources. They have also posted impressive results in the Singapore Cup, such as a 3-0 win over Hougang United, and a 7-1 hammering of Albirex Niigata (S). In the end. they narrowly missed out on qualification for the knockout stages. They are no pushovers now. Mindset Heading into the Game This is something I’ve talked about at length before. It’s been a very long season, and when we talk about the daily grind, I think the grind for the players is grindier than it’s ever been. Especially with a huge tie against Sydney FC on the horizon, I don’t think we can blame the players for feeling like these league games are a bit of a hindrance – something to get it over and done with as soon as possible. Will the players go in a little less hard, fearing that any sort of injury now is potentially a season-ending one? Will they want to exert less energy, saving themselves for the game against Sydney on Wednesday? Will Coach Ranko rotate with Wednesday in mind? So many variables, and of course, no real way of finding out. While we have a comfortable lead in the league, BG Tampines has been plugging away and the gap is now down to 4 points (though we have 2 games in hand). There is room to drop points, but losing would perhaps give BG Tampines some hope that they can claw their way back into the title race. The Return of Bill Mamadou Bill Mamadou went out to Young Lions in February to get more game time, and that’s a move that can only be beneficial for him. His development was stalling in the Sailors where he found minutes hard to come by. Since he’s joined the Young Lions, he has looked confident, and will be pumped up to deliver against his parent club today, to prove any doubters wrong. Let’s hope he doesn’t cause too much trouble for our forwards! Maxime Lestienne It’s not that we need Max for this game, but fans have been eager to know if he is going to be available for the Sydney game. Well, I don’t have any insider info on this, but I am guessing not based on his Instastories – Not sure if any dog in Singapore would need to wear such thick clothing. This suggests he could be back home in Belgium, recuperating from his injury. It looked like a dislocated elbow, and healing times for those can range from a few weeks to a couple of months. I don’t think we will see him on the pitch or even on the bench tonight, but fingers crossed he’s back for the Sydney game in some capacity. Conclusion Short preview for a game where everyone on and off the pitch will be thinking ahead to the Sydney FC game. Hopefully it’s not too much of a distraction that our players end up dropping points. COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! My predicted line-up Izwan Mahbud Chris van Huizen, Lionel Tan, Bailey Wright, Toni Datkovic, Diogo Costa Hami Syahin, Song Ui-Young Obren Kljajic, Lennart Thy, Bart Ramselaar 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: Young Lions 0 Sailors 2 Joseph’s prediction: Young Lions 0 Sailors 5 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!

Finishing top means we get to avoid BG Tampines in the semi-final of the Cup, but frankly I don’t think that will be the biggest concern to Coach Ranko. If you want to win the Cup, you’ll have to beat the best teams anyway. The semi-finalists have already been confirmed last night – with BG Tampines and DPMM from Group B, and BG Pathum and our Sailors from Group A. What’s gonna pan out tonight? Let’s dive right into the preview. B-Team Pathum And no, I am not referring to Tampines Rovers. [wink] I am referring to BG Pathum playing last night, and thus logically it’s safe to assume they will be bringing their B team to Singapore. To make it even worse for them, they have a huge clash with Buriram in the Shopee Cup, and will probably want to rest some players for that match too. I think we can probably expect a lineup featuring youth players and second-stringers. If you have a BG Pathum kit in your wardrobe, you might want to bring it along – they’ll probably play you too if any of their starting 11 get tired or injured. Will We Rotate? I think we will play a pretty strong lineup. We’ve already rested our NT players in the last game, and our next game is not until next Sunday against Young Lions. Which is a bit of a pity if you ask me. This has been a very long season, and the excitement generated by our domestic competitions cannot compare to the excitement generated by the continental competitions. Don’t take it from me, take it from the attendance numbers. While the Sydney game has already sold out 80% of the home section (get your tickets if you haven’t), attendance for the past few Cup games has been dismal. It would be nice if things can be spiced up a little and supporters get to watch players who don’t usually get gametime. Last match for example, I think we all were excited to see what Nathan Mao would be able to do given that he was starting. When he went through on goal after a sublime pass from Bart Ramselaar split the defence, I think the whole crowd was waiting to see the net bulge, and it would have been a proud moment for the youngster. These are moments we want to see more of. Perhaps it’s speaking from a position of privilege, where we’re so used to seeing our team win, we want to see how the next generation will fare. Could Rui Pires’s stint at right centre-back have been cut short by 15min or so to allow us a glimpse of a promising centre-back from the academy? Could there have been 10-15 minute cameos for other talents from the U21 team that looks set to win the U21 championship? Let’s see what kind of team we get tomorrow – considering we really don’t need to win this, I hope we get to see more game time for our fringe players. Conclusion It has been a very short preview, because there really is nothing much to say for a game of such little consequence. Let’s see how it goes, and let’s hope for a good game and no injuries! I think we will win because we will play a strong team and they will play their janitor. COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! My predicted line-up Zharfan Rohaizad Akram Azman, Lionel Tan, Bailey Wright, Toni Datkovic, Diogo Costa Rui Pires, Song Ui-Young Shawal Anuar, Lennart Thy, Bart Ramselaar 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: BG Pathum 0 Sailors 3 Joseph’s prediction: BG Pathum 1 Sailors 2 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!

Qualification to the next stage may be almost certainly guaranteed, but if the Universe can conjure up Sanfrecce Hiroshima fielding an ineligible player to turn a 6-1 home win into a 0-3 defeat, then well, anything can happen. And that means, if we don’t get a draw, then we leave ourselves open to the small possibility of us losing our remaining 2 games, and then Balestier thrashes Tanjong Pagar or Tanjong Pagar thrashes Balestier by a huge scoreline to overcome the goal difference advantage we currently have. Unlikely? Well, stranger things have happened. Let’s dive right into a short preview of tonight’s game. Little Rest from the Singapore Game Means Massive Rotation Thanks to Geylang International’s sporting gesture to allow our match with them to be rescheduled, we face a game 2 days after our National Team played against Hong Kong. You’d have to think this will have some effect on who plays. Given our strong position in the Cup table, I think it is likely that those involved in the National Team games and who saw significant minutes are unlikely to be played. There is also the “last-chance saloon” that the BG Pathum game offers us. Should Balestier or Tanjong Pagar thrash the other team on Saturday night, then we can still go out and get at least a draw on Sunday night. It leaves us in a position to really rest our NT players. I suspect the likes of Anu, Hafiz Nor, Zharfan Rohaizad, and of course, our foreigners will be relied on for this game. Geylang in a Bit of a Rut Geylang International started the season on fire, and for a long time, were talked about as being part of the title race. Now, they are 14 points off the pace in the league table with 7 games to go. In the Cup, they are also rooted to the bottom of the table with 1 point from 3 games, losing to Tanjong Pagar and Balestier Khalsa. Here’s a stat that really shows what a bad run of form they are in – in 2025, they’ve played 8 games, and only won 2 of them. A 2-0 win over DPMM, and a 5-0 win over Tanjong Pagar United, both in the league. They’ve fallen off in a big way, and I think that may be down to very little capacity for rotation in their squad. They are not blessed with the squad depth that we have. They are also on the back of 2 consecutive losses, so there’s every chance that if the Sailors start well tonight, they’ll find themselves having to dig very deep to summon the will to come back. Tomoyuki Doi, Striker Extraordinaire Since the last time we faced him, Tomoyuki Doi has gone on to break the record for the most SPL goals scored in a league season. Despite Geylang’s barren run, Doi has still managed to score 11 goals in 8 games this year, a truly extraordinary run considering his team has sputtered in the engine room of late. He has the uncanny ability to make something out of nothing, and that’s how he has been scoring all these goals. We’ll need to watch him if we want to ensure we don’t lose this game. Conclusion I have to say, it’s a bit hard to care about this game when the stakes are so low, especially when we all know that a huge game against Sydney FC is on the semi-distant horizon. For Geylang, this is a dead rubber. There is only pride for them to reclaim, given their poor run this year. It being Ramadan as well, on a weekday night, may mean a poor turnout and an atmosphere that is not as boisterous as it should be for a Geylang-Sailors clash. Whatever it is, let’s wrap it up against Geylang, so that when we take on BG Pathum at the weekend, we can play the likes of Nathan Mao, Haiqal Pashia, Helix, etc. COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! My predicted line-up Zharfan Rohaizad Chris van Huizen, Anumanthan Kumar, Bailey Wright, Toni Datkovic, Diogo Costa Rui Pires, Song Ui-Young Abdul Rasaq, Lennart Thy, Bart Ramselaar 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: Geylang 1 Sailors 2 Joseph’s prediction: Geylang 0 Sailors 2 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!

After the high of qualifying for the semi-finals of the ACL2 competition, our Sailors must now come back to Earth and re-focus on our Singapore Cup campaign. Let’s dive right into a short preview of tonight’s game. Domestic Treble a Priority You may remember that after winning the Community Shield last year, Technical Director Luka Lalic put up an IG post stating that 33% of a treble was done. If you don’t remember it, look at this. Now, I believe he wasn’t so optimistic at the start of the season to think that we would win the Shopee Cup or the ACL2, so I think he might well have been referring to the domestic treble – SPL, Singapore Cup, and of course, the Community Shield that we’ve already won. That being the case, tonight’s game is important, because BG Pathum has started well in this competition, and Balestier Khalsa are our direct rivals for qualification too. I have always maintained that for a team of our resources, we have to dominate every domestic competition. Of course, we have a game in hand, but we want to enter the game against Geylang with a 5-point lead so that regardless of what happens, they can’t catch us. Rotation Even though we don’t play till later on in the month, I have a feeling Coach Ranko will rotate some players into the starting 11. He will be aware that Wednesday’s game would have taken a fair bit out of certain players, while also taking into account the impending international window where our Singaporean players (ana Ali Alrina for Syria) will not have much of a break at all. Shawal came on and went off in the last game so might have his minutes managed again, while Maxime surely won’t be available after he looked to have dislocated his elbow on Wednesday. I think it’s also important to keep players sharp. With Maxime’s injury, we may have to lean on our bench a bit more, so I think it would be good for the bench players to get some meaningful minutes. Dangerman – Kodai Tanaka The dangerman is an obvious one. Kodai Tanaka, previously of LCS before his horrific knee injury, will be the one to watch out for. He has a whopping tally of 20 goals and 11 assists, 2 goals fewer than our very own Lennart Thy, but with 6 more assists to his name. In recent games, he seems to have added something into his arsenal – the ability to run with the ball over long stretches and provide a pass for his teammates. This wasn’t always the case with Kodai, who was most known for his penalty box prowess in the past. You can see the varied threat that Kodai Tanaka poses from the types of goals he is scoring. Of course, without Anton Fase alongside him, and Alen Kozar pulling the strings in midfield, it might be a little harder for Kodai to thrive, but that didn’t stop him in Balestier’s previous game, where he got a goal, an assist, and also forced an own goal as Balestier beat Geylang. He does however, have joint-top local scorer Ignatius Ang to look for on the pitch though. Ignatius is playing his best ever season in his long career, and we will have to look out for him as well. With 8 goals and 4 assists in the league, Ignatius is also in pretty good form, and was the matchwinner last time out against Geylang. Balestier’s Strange Form Balestier’s form is pretty strange. Losing to Young Lions and Albirex, but managing to pick up 2 wins over an impressive Geylang team, on top of securing all three points in an away trip to DPMM – you never quite know what you’re gonna get with Balestier Khalsa on any given day. Conclusion With Alen Kozar and Anton Fase out, we have to capitalise. I think we should have too much for Balestier Khalsa, and I predict us to get back to winning ways after two consecutive draws. COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! My predicted line-up Izwan Mahbud Akram Azman, Ali Alrina, Bailey Wright, Toni Datkovic, Sergio Carmona Rui Pires, Anumanthan Kumar Abdul Rasaq, Shawal Anuar, Bart Ramselaar 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 4 Balestier Khalsa 1 Joseph’s prediction: Sailors 2 Balestier Khalsa 0 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!

It’s not often you get thrashed 6-1 away from home, only to head into the second leg with a 3-goal advantage. That is the unexpected lifeline we have been given after the dramatic turn of events over the weekend. If you are somehow reading this but don’t know what happened, please read this Straits Times article. It’s why I was dropping hint after hint in the Post-Match Thoughts article last week because I had heard some rumours that the 3-0 walkover was gonna happen. In case you missed the hints – There was the more blatant hint – And then a much less blatant one – And also the choice of picture with Valere Germain inexplicably doing some weird prophetic hand-signs – Someone really needs to ask him what those hand signs were supposed to mean – his teammate was doing it too. Also, what kind of oddball does different signs for “3” on different hands? Usually people stick with one preference, and there are even suggestions that doing the “wrong” gesture can give away where you are from. If Inglourious Basterds is to be believed, that is – where a major plot point used the fact that an undercover agent posing as a German soldier gave himself away by using the wrong way to gesture for “3”. But, enough of the jokes and idle talk – the unexpected lifeline is like the one on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. It’s very helpful, but the odds are still stacked against you. Our Sailors still have to go out and put on a hell of a performance if we are to qualify for the semi-finals. Let’s dive right into the preview. Sanfrecce Are Quality I have already written about this in the last two articles, but let me reiterate this. I am a Sailors fan, but first and foremost, I am a football fan. Watching good teams play excites me. And it was truly impressive what Sanfrecce did to us in the first leg. Yes, some of the goals were perhaps avoidable, but there was also a sense that nearing the end of the game, Sanfrecce could have pushed on for more goals if they truly wanted. Diogo Costa, who has been a shining light for us since he signed in January, looked distinctly ordinary, while Maxime Lestienne was rendered almost invisible. Shawal scored a wonderful goal, but was found wanting in terms of quality of touch and pass in other parts of the game. Bailey and Toni are usually so solid at the back, but looked a little overwhelmed at times as well. All this is not for the lack of trying. The effort was there, but Sanfrecce were just better. And we shouldn’t be surprised. They were top-scorers of the J-League last year by some distance, and by finishing second, they qualified for the ACL Elite next season. They are not really an ACL2 team. What I also like about them is that they are so confident in their quality that at today’s press conference, when Michael Skibbe was asked about the artificial pitch, he said it was a “nice” surface – a refreshing change from usual coaches who come here and pre-emptively complain about the surface and how their team will have to adapt to it, as if giving excuses for any potential bad result. They will feel confident that having beaten us 6-1 last week, they can do something similar tonight. Their threats are across the team as well, and it’s not gonna be easy to focus on one or two of them to stop the threat. Just look at this – Parking the Bus (Or Ship, or Whatever Vehicle of Choice) In the pre-match press conference, a question was put to Coach Ranko – would he be looking to park the bus? This was his response. Parking the bus is not as easy as it seems. It requires a well-drilled defence, and one that is used to being patient and absorbing pressure. It also requires a goalkeeper who takes good care of long shots and crosses. It also requires a few members of the team to be “bad guys” who will roll around, antagonise, waste time, and just look to frustrate. I don’t think we are equipped to do that. We have not shown ourselves to be capable of doing that. Think Persib at JBS, think Zhejiang away, think Muangthong away. When we collapse into our defensive shell, we get less and less confident with each phase of play, and we end up caving. I think keeper-wise, Izwan will be the first to admit that he hasn’t been anywhere near his high standards set for himself. This ACL2 campaign we have let in 3 goals from long shots outside the box, and while we score many goals, there is a concerning number of goals that comes from areas where you would hope your keeper will come to claim the ball commandingly on the cross. Luckily, he sort of makes up for this with his excellent distribution, both with his hands and his feet, and his kicks have led to chances for our players before. In a game where we are likely to have to play on the counter, this may be crucial. I think the fact that we are so dominant in our league also means that we don’t get the opportunity to train how to be the “bad guys” the way DPMM always does, or more recently, how Hougang shut us down. It’s not easy to suddenly play like an underdog and do the dark arts. In our current squad, the players I see as able to do this the best are Song Ui-Young and Lionel Tan. Song is suspended, while Lionel didn’t make the bench even against Hougang, so I suspect he is injured. So I trust Ranko when he says he won’t park the bus. There will be some plan to hit Sanfrecce on the counter-attack, if only to pin 2

It is Matchday but I don’t think I’ve heard one Sailors fan discuss the upcoming SPL game with Hougang. With the league title nearly wrapped up and all eyes on Wednesday’s clash with Sanfrecce Hiroshima, many fans see this match as a mere distraction. Of course, there was also all the drama surrounding the walkover decision by the AFC. This match is a distraction – but nevertheless one we will not want to lose even if we rest everyone who may be involved on Wednesday. Let’s dive right into the preview. It will be a short one, given the (relatively) low stakes for this game. Not About the Quality of Opponent There will most definitely be a raft of changes – and I think it has nothing to do with quality of opponent. No matter who we were playing today, I think Coach Ranko will ring the changes, simply because there is a lead to protect on Wednesday and we have a chance of making it into the semi-finals of the ACL2. That’s definitely something worth gambling for, especially with the commanding position we have in the league. A 9-point lead, a game in hand, and a huge goal difference advantage. Perfect conditions for us to rest players for Sanfrecce Hiroshima, who themselves do not have a league game this weekend, and have arrived in Singapore yesterday to begin their acclimatisation. There’s no reason for us to put ourselves at a disadvantage by playing a strong team at the weekend. Plus it’s not like Hougang are at their strongest either. Hougang Missing Key Players As if we needed more incentive to rest our key players, Hougang United will be missing some key players too. Defender Jovan Mugosa went off with a sickening crunch against DPMM, and with his ACL injury, went Hougang’s unbeaten streak. Prior to that, he had been a part of 4 very impressive performances, including a 4-2 win over BG Tampines and a 2-1 win over Albirex. Add to that Zulfahmi Arifin’s suspension due to an elbow to his opponent, and you suddenly find an important part of Hougang’s spine ripped out. While they can still call upon Shahdan Sulaiman and Shodai Yokoyama in midfield, Zulfahmi’s control of the pace of the game, and his set-piece prowess will be missed. Dejan Racic was also not available for the last game, though I am not sure why. If he is missing again, then we have one less reason to fear Hougang, as he is their top-scorer this season. Major Test for Akram Azman I expect Akram Azman to start, and his direct opponent is the dangerous Stjepan Plazonja. Sometimes for fringe players to break through, they need difficult tests to prove their worth. And in terms of the SPL, there is no greater test for a fullback than having to mark Plazonja. He is Hougang’s top assister and second-top goalscorer, and his direct play has caused much trouble for rightbacks up and down the league. Another option could also of course be Mamat (Zulqarnaen Suzliman), who is finally back from injury, and was finally back on the bench against BG Tampines Rovers, after a few appearances for the U21s. He is a fan favourite, and I hope that he will get some minutes, even if playing him from the start might just be a bridge too far for him. Conclusion Told you it will be a short one. Frankly, I don’t think supporters will be too fussed if we drop points in this one. Get a draw, fine. Get a win, great. The priority is to ensure that everyone is fit and ready for Wednesday’s game where we have a 3-0 lead to defend (if you’re not sure what’s happening, Google “Germain suspension AFC Sanfrecce Hiroshima hahahahaha”. You may or may not need the laughter at the end, but the Google search engine will not begrudge you that I am sure. One more thing about this match is I would hope Izwan uses it to get a bit of confidence back. Try to keep a clean sheet, and try to do all the basics right – I am sure he will be slightly disappointed with his keeping in the Sanfrecce match. Whatever it is and whoever we play, NO INJURIES PLEASE. COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! My predicted line-up Izwan Mahbud Akram Azman, Lionel Tan, Bailey Wright, Ali Alrina, Sergio Carmona Song Ui-Young, Anumanthan Kumar Abdul Rasaq, Lennart Thy, Haiqal Pashia 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: Hougang United 2 Sailors 4 Joseph’s prediction: Hougang United 1 Sailors 7 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!