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So it wasn’t to be. What we suspected all along was true – Buriram are a class side, and it would be difficult for our Sailors to keep alive our slim qualification hopes. We were given a huge slice of hope though, when a red card was shown to Kenneth Dougall, meaning we had a whole half to try to break down Buriram’s defence. However, despite many close shaves, we just couldn’t make it happen, and so we’re out. Some thoughts from an action-packed night despite the scoreline! The Red Card Let’s start easy. I’ve heard some people say that they don’t think it’s a red card. Well, pictures don’t lie, so let’s take a look at the replay. Oh, sorry that is a picture of a time-wasting buffoon celebrating winning the World Cup a draw against a team from a much weaker league. Am I being bitter? Yes. Do I give a shit? No. Ok I’ll carry on. For some reason, above-mentioned buffoon / clown / shithead was never punished by the referee despite multiple occasions of time-wasting, including doing freestyle tricks right under the nose of the ref. When Lennart Thy tried to dribble the ball back to the six yard area after the ball had gone out, to reduce the time wasted, he even tripped Lennart – and still the referee didn’t do a thing. Amazing, But we were talking about the red card, not random Thai clowns, so please refer to this still below instead. Maxime is just outside the box, with perhaps perhaps ONE covering defender about 8m away? I don’t think that defender gets to Maxime if Dougall didn’t trip him. Maxime would then be facing the keeper diagonally right, with his left foot primed to strike. It’s the perfect angle for him – he can even dink it over the keeper if he wants. It’s definitely denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity. We even almost scored from the resulting freekick too! But Thai clown made a great double save to deny Datkovic, and so we went into half-time 0-0. Before we move on to the rest of the article, I just wanted to point out how sharp Maxime is. If you look at the replay, once Lennart flicks it on, you can see that Max is already on the move, staring intently at the ball and closing Dougall down. He knows that Buriram like to play with the ball, and he’s likely to take a touch to bring it down, rather than just do the simple and head it clear or back to the keeper. He gambles, and it’s a disastrous touch for Dougall but a delightful one for Max. Matches can turn on the slightest of details, and had we gone on to find the winner in this game, there’s no doubt that this would be the key moment. To think that it could result from just 1 small decision to press. Toe to Toe Even before the red card, I was impressed with our Sailors. Sure, we had some nervy moments, but I had anticipated a full-on barrage from Buriram, and for us to be clinging on, and clearing every ball from our box. What we saw was quite different. Buriram were superior in midfield exchanges, and their pace of passing was superb, but the first half prior to the red card felt quite even, or 60-40 in Buriram’s favour. We even came closest to scoring a goal, with Maxime curling a fantastic shot against the bar. Clowny McClownface was well beaten. In the second half, with the man advantage, I thought Buriram did superb to deny the Sailors a goal. They stood firm on the edge of their box and on a few occasions, stopped promising through-balls into the box which would have helped us get behind their defence. For all our huff and puff, we never really got behind them, and our best chances came from crosses. Glorious chances though! In total, there were three opportunities right in front of goal, we just couldn’t take them. Lennart, Song and Toni will surely replay those chances in their heads for a while. Shawal too, had a decent chance by his standards, but he headed wide. Before the game, if you had told me we would be the side that looked more likely to win, I would have been very surprised. I think despite being dumped out of the competition, we can hold our heads high for this match. We kept a clean sheet against a side that scores goals for fun. And we came mighty close to writing a new chapter in our history of cup upsets. Attacking Intent Ranko has come under attack before for being a cautious, pragmatic coach. In my opinion, I like what I see because our Sailors have never looked this solid throughout the club’s history. But yesterday required a different approach after the red card – and I think you could finally see us throwing caution to the wind. The match ended with Rasaq, Lennart, Shawal, Bart, Maxime, Song all on the field. Each of those players were on the field because they are capable of getting us an important goal. At the death, supporters were also treated to the sight of Izwan making his way into the opposing penalty area. Scenes if he had scored then. I joked with Brandon, who was seated next to me, and said that in my visions, I can see the ball being cleared, and then Hafiz Nor strikes it on the volley from 30 yards and it sails into the top corner. Well, those visions were not accurate, to say the least. That’s why I am not a medium, I’m an XL. It may have been a 0-0, but from staff to players, everyone tried their darndest to pull off the latest upset at Jalan Besar Stadium. And I’m proud of the team. Just like in the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup, when Singapore teams come up

The Shopee Cup has been said by fans, and even some experts to be a second-rate competition. The label of “ASEAN” means that perhaps this competition lacks the lustre of the ACL Elite or the ACL2. I beg to differ – I think that the quality of opposition is actually on par with what we have faced in the ACL2 this season. Buriram and Cong An Ha Noi – are these teams not equal to or better than teams like Port FC and Persib Bandung? And if you look away from our ACL2 group – are they not a million times better than Lee Man, Eastern, or the hilariously-named Dynamic Herb Cebu? I mean I get the irony of me laughing at a football club which has its corporate identity so brazenly planted into the club’s name, considering that Sailors is a reference to the SEA corporation, but Dynamic Herb is as unsexy as it gets man. And the football they play? Not a ringing endorsement for the herbal products they sell. But … I digress. My point is simply this – we need to do well in competitions like these, even if qualification to the next stage looks unlikely. A club of LCS’s stature needs to win the league year in year out, but in my opinion, it also needs to make strides overseas, and assert themselves regionally. And I urge you to read that sentence carefully again – we HAVE to win the league, and do well regionally. I think winning is a habit, and if we don’t play well and try to win every game, then we fail in our objectives. 2025 is gonna be a big year for us, and the winning starts now. Let’s dive right into the preview. Our Opponents KL City FC is a reactive team, just like us. They don’t seek to dominate teams – they try to defend well and then hit on the break. Their games so far in the Shopee Cup have both been 1-0 wins at home, against Borneo FC and Kaya FC. However, the games could not have been more different. Against Borneo FC, they were clinging on for dear life as the keeper and defence held firm against some crazy pressure, before scoring a goal against the run of play through Brendan Gan – who will not be available against us tonight. They held 27% possession and a shocking 65% pass accuracy. Against Kaya FC, while they still didn’t hold the majority of possession, they carved apart their opponents’ defence at will and should really have added more to the scoreline. All they managed though was a goal from a goalkeeping error. And therein lies the hope for us – while their Shopee Cup record looks impressive, they are not an unbeatable team without flaws. They lie 8th out of 13 teams in the Malaysian Super League, and even if you take into account the points deduction they suffered because they submitted inaccurate documents to AFC, they would still be outside the top 4. Their points tally would also be closer to the bottom of the table than the top. I don’t profess to know a lot about our opponents other than watching highlights from the MSL and their two Shopee Cup games, but head on down to the official LCS website to check out their preview of the game as well. Notably, aside from Brendan Gan missing, they have their second-top scorer Jovan Motika missing as well. We won’t get a better opportunity than this. Our National Team Players Hami, Izwan, Shawal, and Lionel clocked some serious minutes in the Mitsubishi Electric Cup, and while that was one and a half weeks ago, I do wonder if some of them will be given a bit of an extended break just to ensure they can go the distance in the three competitions we have this year. Hariss, Chris van Huizen, and Abdul Rasaq were there too, but didn’t see quite as many minutes. Assuming Izwan doesn’t get rested because goalkeeper isn’t the most physically-demanding competition, I expect that Shawal, Lionel and Hami will not start this game. That obviously weakens our strongest possible line-up, but I think we can still cope. Might be a good opportunity to let Zharfan play as well. I am not entirely sure about who else is available or not for this game. We might have a small clue from the Instagram posts of Kitchee and Sailors respectively when they met for a friendly game on 4 Jan. The players who featured in the photos of the game were Anu, Song, Bart Ramselaar, Hafiz Nor, Nathan Mao, Rui Pires, Lennart Thy, Bill Mamadou, Haiqal Pashia, and Sergio Carmona. Anu’s an interesting one. I think of all people he will admit that his performances in 2024 have been a long way from his best, and he has struggled to get minutes as well. There are strong rumours floating around that he will be loaned out in January, but so far no official confirmation yet. It was thus a bit surprising to see him get minutes in the Kitchee friendly. What does the future hold for him? Only time will tell. Interesting Battle of Reactive Teams As stated above, KL City is likely, especially in an away game, to sit back and wait for us to try to attack them. However, our Sailors have thus far in continental competition, adopted that role as we come up against teams that have more quality than us. Will we see us do the same as we have in continental competition? I suspect not, considering we need a win in order to ignite any potential comeback in this group. We are rock bottom of the group having played like shit in the two games so far against Borneo and CAHN. While I don’t think we will ditch our 5-at-the-back formation, I believe that we will try to start the game with the same intensity as we did

Leaving aside the ridiculous logo of our opponents, our Sailors’ foray into the Shopee Cup should be something we are excited about. While planning my away trips to support the team, I realised something – our Shopee Cup opponents are arguably harder than our ACL2 opponents. Funny, considering that ACL2 looks on paper to be the more prestigious tournament. More money on offer (ACL2’s USD2.5 million for the winner vs Shopee Cup’s USD500,000 for the winner), and also the chance to rub shoulders not only against ASEAN teams but also powerhouses from Japan, China and Korea. Part of why we can’t really predict the outcome of continental matches with much accuracy is because we have limited experience at this level, plus teams are ever-changing. With all that said, let’s dive into the preview (but not like a constipated dolphin, just take a normal dive). What Kind of Team is Borneo FC Samarinda? Looking at this screenshot, I have to admit that I know close to nothing about Indonesia football. Lilipaly is a standout name of course, him having scored against Singapore in the 2016 AFF Cup, and been one of Indonesia’s most eye-catching players over the years. But other than that, Rivaldo and Ronaldo are famous names but probably not the same people we immediately think of when you see those names, and then Fajar is just a place in Bukit Panjang. However, I wish I could say that when I decided to read up on this team and watch them on Youtube, that they are a bunch of unknowns we should be capable of swatting aside with ease. No. They seem to be a very good and well-organised team. They did excellently in the President’s Cup a month ago, and while that may not be seen to be real silverware because it is more of a pre-season tournament, the players from all the teams took it seriously, and Borneo FC fielded their best 11. They qualified for the final, overcoming Persib Bandung and PSM Makassar in the group stages, beating Persija Jakarta in the semi-final, and then losing out on penalties to Arema FC in the final. Throughout that run, they also showed real grit, battling to 90min and beyond. In their 5 games, they scored 3 goals in injury time in three different matches – twice to win the game and once to equalise. Not easy to do, especially against the teams they came up against. If there’s one small crumb of consolation – they seem to be quite susceptible to the counter-attack. If they push on with the home crowd behind them, perhaps we can exploit that. They will know that we thrive on transitions though, so I wonder if they will try to pick us off on the counter instead. Dangermen Of course, I speak from just watching some matches on Youtube, so please take this with a gigantic pinch of salt. Longtime observers of the ASEAN scene will know all about Lilipaly’s quality. Much like Bart Ramselaar and Maxime Lestienne, he has spent some time in Dutch football. He was born there, joined the AZ Alkmaar academy, and eventually played in the Eredivisie in 2 separate spells. Now 34, he’s lost some zip, but his playmaking quality and threat on the ball is still evident when you watch him. He seems to have quickly struck up an understanding with Berguinho and Gaucho. Berguinho reminds me of a B-rated Maxime Lestienne (I hope I do not regret saying this), while Gaucho is a cool, calm customer in front of goal. They look like they have the tools to punish us should we slack off in defence. Another thing to note about Borneo FC is they seem to cross the ball alot. Most of their goals have come from crosses, whether in open play or set pieces. Something to watch out for. Tight Schedule – Tired Players? Our Sailors play 3 games in 8 days. If Coach Ranko hasn’t rotated much before, he certainly will have to give some thought to it now. Do we take the Shopee Cup seriously? Given that the title sponsor is also our sponsor (and indirectly our owner), I don’t see us fielding a second string lineup for this tournament, unlike what BG Pathum did earlier last night. Our fixtures are Borneo FC Samarinda (away), Albirex (away), and then Geylang (home). The Albirex fixture worries me the most despite their poor form this season. Assuming we take the Shopee Cup seriously and field a strong 11, can they recover quickly and still perform at their best at the weekend? Even if we field a strong 11 and get a commanding lead (by no means an easy feat), Borneo FC’s late late heroics may mean that Coach Ranko pauses before making wholesale changes to the team to rest some legs. Well, I’m not the coach. I suspect he will go with a strong lineup for all 3 upcoming games because of the long break that the players had since our last game against DPMM at the start of August. This might work on a one-off basis, but this fixture congestion will pop up again and again in the coming months. 6 games in 20 days stretching from September to October, taking in flights to Bangkok and Hanoi – Ranko has to find an effective formula to allow the players to rest and recover. We have good depth both in our local and foreign ranks – it is time to trust the depth a little more. Supporters should also be abit more understanding of the schedule and the necessity of rotation – if we see a lineup without Maxime Lestienne, let’s try not to panic. Try! Put it this way, if the squad is absolutely reliant on Maxime Lestienne being available to beat Albirex, don’t you think that it is a bit of a failure of the squad / management? I’d think so. Indonesian Fans Indonesian fans are known to be super passionate