Friday, June 18, 2010

WC - 13 June: Delights


By the end of July, i believe non-German football fans will know the name Mesut Özil.


Ghana baik! photographed for the first underdogs win : )


Monday, June 14, 2010

Aide wakes up

Finally, our dear Sengkang coach has FINALLY address his defensive problems by bringing in an experienced Kenji Arai to lead the line, although the Jap may not be the best defender, i think he is at least experienced and good enough to provide Shahir Hamzah with some good pointers.

Rather than having a Diallo Abdoulaye, Nor Azli or Sim Li Ming along Shahir right?

It addresses the problem pointed out earlier that Aide got his foreigners' priority wrong at the start of the season when he went for foreigners further up the field, leaving the backline w/o a old warhorse.

Hopefully the central defensive partnership take off and we will see the former Young Lions' player recover his early season promise too..

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Dominant French cruised to a convincing win

M97: Etoile FC vs Tampines

By: Hugo Ng

The highly anticipated top of the table clash at the Jalan Besar Stadium on Wenesday night turned out to be a somewhat one-sided affair as Etoile FC put four unanswered goals past Tampines Rovers to record a second 4-0 league victory this season.

In the process of doing so, the French side has taken over the league leadership once again, albeit for a longer period this time, by opening up a two point advantage over the Stags.

This win also means that they have defeated all of the so-called “Big Three” in the league, having notched a solitary goal win against Home United last week and previously slayed the SAF Warriors comprehensively by three goals.

Quality in the middle of the pitch proved to be key in this matchup as Etoile’s trio of Cyril Bagnost, Kevin Yann and Khaled Kharroubi and flying winger Karim Boudjema imposed themselves right from the word go. For once, the Tampines could not an answer to their opponents’ superior passing and movement, which is not often the case.

Boudjema, in particular, impressed throughout as he laid off three assists for his teammates.
Etoile’s first chance came as early as the second minute when their main man Frederic Mendy’s volley hit the side netting after captain Matthias Vershave had fed him with a delightful ball from the right wing.

Tampines responded down the other end through as striker Aleksander Duric took goalkeeper Hassan Sunny’s long punt down and set up “The Little Master” Aliff Shafaein, whose left-foot shot was parried by Etoile’s custodian Yohann Lacroix.

It was to be the Stags’ only meaningful goal attempt in the first period as possession was with the French team for long periods and the team in yellow was only able to create limited chances that were easy for the Etoile backline to sweep up.

Hassan had to be alert to tip a Julien Deletraz free-kick over on the 12th minute mark. From the resulting corner that was taken short, the national keeper had to be quick off his line to put Mendy off after Kharroubi’s cross somehow him free in the penalty box.

However, there was no stopping Mendy in the 23th minute. Boudjema’s clever slide-rule pass after a sweet move initiated by Kharroubi allowed the striker to get in on the blind side of Tampines defender Seiji Kaneko. The lanky striker held off the Japanese’s challenge before netting the game’s opening goal from a tight angle.

The former Kashima Antlers defender was having a tough time containing Mendy and worse was to come on the stroke on half time.

But moments before that, Etoile had went 2-0 up. Again, Boudjema was the instigator. He took Kaneko and Benoit Crossiant on for a run, exposing the Stags defence before slipping a pass to the onrushing Yann to tuck home despite substitute defender Park Yo Seb’s desperate effort to keep the ball out.

Next came a crucial moment in the game. Kaneko, who had already been unluckily cautioned in the 17th minute after teammate Jamil Ali had played him into trouble, fouled Mendy from behind and earned his second yellow of the evening, leaving his team to fight a fire which was already proving extremely tough to put out.

Finding themselves with a comfortable two goal lead and a man advantage, Etoile started to stroke the ball around more at the start of the second period, making use of the full width of the pitch and having their fans cheering every pass.

Aliff had a quiet game by his high standards, coming into life only in bits and pieces. In the 50th minute, he orchestrated a one-two with Duric, only to be halted by the linesman’s flag when he was through on goal as Duric had been in an offside position earlier.

That proved to be the last contribution from “The Little Master” as Coach Vorawan made a double substitution seven minutes later with forward Qiu Li being one of those brought into the game. He was to prove pivotal as the Stags finally began to pierce a few openings in the stubborn French defence.

Vorawan’s last throw of the dice, though bore no fruit in the end, gave Tampines hope as Qiu Li struck a brilliant left foot curler two minutes after coming on which left Lacroix grasping thin air , only to see it ricochet off the keeper’s goalframe.

In the 63th minute however, Etoile dealt the Stags another blow. Vershave’s deep cross was met by Boudjema’s head to divert the ball back into the danger zone and Mendy pounced on it with a diving header to grab his second of the night to make the score 3-0.

Tampines looked dead and buried at this point but they did not give up.

Qiu Li sent a thunderous free-kick sizzling past Lacroix and a minute later his cushion header found teammate Akihiro Nakamura free in the box. But the S-League journeyman inexplicably fluffed a simple half volley with only the keeper to beat.

With his side three goals down and getting constantly booed by the Etoile fans for incidents dating to the last meeting between the two sides, Croissant was starting to get wind up and it was clear he was losing his concentration. But credit to the Frenchman for ultimately keeping his cool and getting on with the game.

The 85th minute saw Etoile net their final goal of the night. From a clearance off a Duric free-kick, a defensive mistake by the Stags backline allowed the French side to pour forward. Off a brilliant pass from Bagnost, Vershave made his way into the box before firing a stiff grounder past Hassan Sunny for 4-0.

In the post-match press conference, Etoile’s coach Patrick Vallee revealed he felt “very good” after the win.

When quizzed about what went right on the night for his team, he quipped, “The players imposed the system that I wanted to play. It was a good decision”.

He added, “We played for a win and I think we deserved it when you look at the game on the whole as our goalkeeper only had one or two saves to make in each half”.

However, he got all emotional when asked about his post match reactions to a small group of spectators.

In response, Vallee said, “I respect everybody and I expect the same from the others. I am here to raise the standard for Singapore football, not to talk about my family”, as he let the media in that the same group of men have been repeatedly abusing him verbally at games and he urged FAS to look into it.

Meanwhile, Stags’ coach Vorawan Chitavanich had a smile for the reporters though in defeat. When questioned about it, he declared, “I am proud of my players as they showed fighting spirit even when we were a man down and losing”.

Reflecting on the game, he concluded, “It was not a lucky day, when we wanted to fight back, we made too many mistakes and holes appeared in our defence”.


~~~~SLeague.com~~~~~~~~~

Monday, June 7, 2010

M92: TALENTS OUTGUNNED BY THE STAGS

Tampines Rovers warmed up for their upcoming top of the table clash with Etoile by crushing the youthful Beijing Guoan Talent side 4-0 last night at their Tampines cauldron in the first part of its two matchups within three days against the league’s foreign teams.

This allowed them to head into Wednesday’s crunch game at Jalan Besar with the comfort of top spot after the French side had momentarily occupied pole position for twenty-four hours with a victory over the Eagles on Saturday night.

Stags’ coach Vorawan Chitavanich fielded the identical eleven that had surprisingly lost to the Young Lions three days earlier despite initial fears of the lack of recovery period for the elder statesmen of his team like Aleksander Duric and captain Zulkarnaen Zainal. His decision was helped partly due to the continued absence of national forward Khairul Amri and wingback Imran Sahib while Qiu Li was only fit enough for a spot on the substitutes’ bench.

The youthful Beijing side started brightly from the start and managed to threaten the Stags from a few set-piece situations but with nothing to show for.

Slowly, the more experienced heads of the Tampines players got into the game and netted their opening goal from their first real attack in the tenth minute after good combination play between Jamil Ali and Aliff Shafaein.

Jamil won the ball on the left flank and made his way into the centre before laying the ball to Aliff. The Stags’ No 19, dubbed as “The Little Master” by the media, returned Jamil with a peach of a pass that saw the former Woodlands man run through on goal before easily finishing with a low grounder past the Beijing keeper Su Boyang.

Eight minutes later, Aliff was at it again as Zahid Ahmad released the nippy playmaker down the left wing. Fortunately, the Beijing defence recovered in time to clear the centre from “The Little Master” out for a corner.

In the 20th minute, Stags keeper Hassan Sunny was called into his first real action of the night as he pulled off a wonderful one-handed save to deny Liu Teng’s point blank header after forward Li Tixiang had whipped in a good cross from the right.

Credit has to be given to the Chinese side as they continued to create opportunities in a bid to equalise before half-time and had two good chances to do so. However in both situations, they were denied by the impressive Hassan.

The first of which happened in the 40th minute. Liu Teng’s cross from the right flank was cushioned by striker Tan Tiancheng nicely into the path of rightback Yu Tianzhu, whose low shot was tipped wide by Hassan’s fingertips.

Just before the interval, a five-man move initated by Li Tixiang culminated in Yu having another golden chance at goal. This time, Hassan put his giant frame into good use as he flung himself ala Peter Schmeichel style to deny the Beijing man.

In between the two Beijing attempts, Tampines missed an opportunity of themselves as Jamil took one touch too many and the chance went begging after wonderful approach play by Duric and Zahid.

Within a minute after the break, Beijing raided the Tampines left flank and almost leveled the score but Tan just narrowly missed connecting a cross from the right wing with a half volley.

Stags hit three in twelve minutes

It was to prove costly as the Stags went two up four minutes later.

Anchorman Shukor Zailan slid Aliff through with a delicious ball down the Beijing centre. “The Little Master” shook off the attentions of defender Ma Chongchong as he took the ball in his stride before slotting past keeper Su for two nil.

Beijing coach Zheng XIaotian reacted with a double substitution in the 55th minute, bringing on Lei Tenglong and Teng Bin as he sought to find a way back into the game.

Unfortunately, the plan backfired as the Stags added a third goal within a minute of the changes.
Once again “The Little Master” was at the heart of the move as he collected a pass from Ismadi Mukhtar, cut into the middle before laying the ball on a plate for Duric to slam the ball in for 3-0.

Beijing’s night was not to get any better as the Stags took advantage of the loss of organisation in their opponents’ backline to notch a fourth goal six minutes later.

A measured pass inside his own half by Jamil was immaculately controlled by Aliff with one touch to set up Duric.

The evergreen striker had the luxury to control the ball and ward off the challenge of Su before netting his second of the night with a left foot shot that trickled into goal despite the best effort by substitute Lei on the goalline.

Though they were 4-0 down, the Talents showed desire to grab at least a consolation goal but those hopes were more than once denied by Singapore’s No 1 Hassan.

Wang Hao and substitute Teng produced a couple of decent attempts at goal after marauding runs near to the Stags’ penalty box but found Hassan in top form.

The pick of his saves came in the 85th minute after Teng mesmerized Stags’ substitute Jufri Thaha down the left and charged to the bye-line before pulling the ball back for top scorer Tan Tiancheng.

This time, Hassan’s legs came in the way of Tan’s shot as he made sure his goal remained intact.
Tampines almost scored a fifth deep into injury-time but substitute Edward Tan somehow missed a sitter after good work by Duric.

Morale booster

Stags’ coach Vorawan Chitavanich expressed delight at his team’s overall performance and agreed that it had indeed been a morale boosting win, especially coming off a defeat against the Young Lions previously.

His felt that his prematch concerns of his charges’ fitness levels was somewhat alleviated by the fact that they had the faithful home crowd behind them.

When asked of his views with regards to the performance of “The Little Master”, Vorawan commented: “After spending the last seven years with me, Aliff has definitely grown and has been able to adapt well into my game plan and make important plays for the team”.

His counterpart Zheng Xiaotian was left to rue the individual errors by his players which he concluded proved costly at the end. He said that tactical changes were made during the game but ultimately was not enough to grab any rewards from the game. He also acknowledged the brilliant display by Hassan in the Tampines’ goal.

Tampines’ focus now turns to the intriguing clash between the league’s top two teams as they do battle on Wednesday evening. If their last meeting in March can be an indication of what is to be expected, football fans can surely expect fireworks at Jalan Besar - both on and off the field.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Internazionale - Real

Just some random thoughts arriving after hearing that this 2 clubs have 'good' relationship with each other after the Mourinho transfer saga. It was a short one, definitely much shorter than the protracted one when Ronaldo left in 2002 for the Bernabeu.

Real - Inter
Clarence Seedorf
Ivan Zamorano
Esteban Cambiasso
Santiago Solari
Walter Samuel
Wesley Sneijder

Inter-Real
Ronaldo
Jose M

Monday, May 24, 2010

'Mou' Rinho

Finally, the worse kept transfer secret of the summer is out. Mou is heading to Real, my long term hatred rivals.

Just have this feeling that he wont achieve the kind of success he's used to, cos Real are not clad in blue. His successful teams have always been donning blue jerseys, recall Porto, Chelski & Inter. Ok tats a side talk.

Seriously if Barca can add bit more exquisite quality in midfield, my team will still be the team to beat in La Liga next season. Esp if Cesc returns home, but pls not at the expense of Yaya Toure. I do not mind sacrificing Sergi Busquets though. Just send Marquez, Hleb over to Emirates. Thierry's heading to the MLS.

I do not see Mou being able to mould a solid rock in RM's defence. This team has always been 'score more than opponent' team, a team whose fans demand entertaining football. I suspect defensive tactics will not be welcomed even if Mou can win games. Remember Don Fabio? The likely situation is that he wun be able to love the fans as he did in England & Italy.

I love to see Crisitano Ronaldo tracking back to defend ala Samuel E'too next season.

Lets see if he can buy 4 solid defenders & prove me wrong.

I cant see how he and Florentino Perez can click. Remember how Roman and him fell out?

To me simply, it wun be a happy marriage. Mark my words.

Visca Barca!



*now that season has ended, its time for our own Singapore League once again, watch this space!

Sunday, May 16, 2010