Friendly Report 7

	Opponent: Johor FA Date: 27th Feb, 2030hrs Venue: Larkin Stadium Final Score: 1 – 1 (Aide Iskandar)
With a gap of 10 days between the 2 League games, the Dolphins head north across the causeway to face Johor FA whom we had beaten in a pre-season friendly in January. The first half ended in a stalemate as the Malaysian Premier League side put on a competent display on their home ground. The Scorpions pulled ahead deservingly but our skipper Aide Iskandar scored the equalizer against his former employers before our latest acquisition Indra hit the woodwork as the team went in search of the winner. A decent draw in a match to maintain our fitness and momentum as well as further assimilation for the likes of Indra and Noh Rahman who missed much of the pre-season preparations. More information will follow once we have it…

Team by Team Analysis Part 3.3

In this part of our team analysis, we feature the last local club. Wait, make it the last one in the league altogether, since gathering any info on the foreign teams is no easy undertaking, considering how much they enjoy regenerating their players every season. So sit back and enjoy Bryan’s rundown on a former Goliath and now possible David.
Club: Woodlands Wellington Football Club Nickname: The Rams Gaffer: Nenad Bacina Key Men to Watch: Daniel Hammond, Hasrin Jailani and Mojtaba Tehranizadeh Likely Surprise Hit of the Season: Shahri Musa
The Buzz: Regarded as the most controversial team in the S.League, the Rams have often found themselves in the limelight for the wrong reasons. Player revolt, dressing room unrest, walking out from a game, colorful management, scuffles with opposing players, player assaulted by a bookie with a hockey stick… If only the Rams have transformed their unwelcome fame to a more convincing display on the pitch for the past decade, the northern side will certainly join Geylang as two of the most decorated non-uniformed clubs in Singapore. Bacina, an accomplished defender in his playing days, has rebuilt the Woodlands side with an emphasis on an unyielding defence. Ex-Young Lion, Hammond, ex-Sengkang left back, Hicks and national player, Precious will spearhead the Rams’ toughest department and protect ex-national team custodian, Rezal Hassan. Anaz Hadee should get the nod for the right back position (though I have reservations on him ever since his long injury layoff). Ex-Lion Hasrin Jailani and new team captain, Azlan Alipah will hold the Rams’ midfield with SAF reject, Jamil Ali and ex-Gombak winger, Jalal playing on the wings. The experienced Kamal Nasir and utility player, J. Kalaisevan and the young prospects of Shari Musa and Ismadi Mukhtar will provide the midfield reinforcements should the need arises. Mojtaba Tehranizadeh (or affectionately known as “Moshee”), who was signed from NFL side, Tessensohn Khalsa and another unnamed foreign forward will form the new strike partnership. However, this department is probably Woodlands’ weakest link as there isn’t sufficient cover though Jamil can play as second forward. Hence, I expect the Rams to struggle for goals so Hammond, Precious and Hicks are expected to contribute their fair bit from set pieces.
Formation and Likely Starting Eleven: 4-4-2 Probable lineup Possible Outcome for Sengkang Against Them: wreckidigidy: Home Win, Away Win wretchedguy: Home Win, Away Draw

Onto greater heights, Flagbearer of S.League!

Congratulations to SAFFC for defeating Thai Premier League champions Provincial Electricity Authority Football Club and Indonesia Super League’s runners up PSMS Medan to claim a spot in the prestigious group stage of the AFC Champions League.

The build-up to the game has the entire local soccer fraternity harping on the 7-time S League champions whipping the runner-up of the Indonesian Super League for 2008 but etched at the 2nd bottom position after 17th round in this year’s competition.

After doing the hard part of conquering PEA at Bangkok last week in the 1st qualifying round, many expected the Warriors to steamroll the ailing Indon side into the group stage where they would face 3 huge East Asian clubs in Kashima Antlers (JAP), Samsung Suwon Bluewings (KOR) and Shanghai Shenhua (CHN).

The match was nearly jeopardized by a thunderstorm shrouding the east side of the island which subsided at around 7-ish.
There was still drizzle when the game began… which will not affect the synthetic turf of Jalan Besar which many thought would be too hard for the Indonesians.
That and the lack of natural fitness should be SAF’s upper hand as well as the caliber of the playing staff.
There was no surprise with the selection of the 1st eleven but in the first half you can see the side putting up a rather defensive stance while the forwards didn’t really stretch the PSMS’ 5-men defense despite SAF bearing the lion’s share of the possession.

However a goal was imminent and veteran midfield general Thersak Chaiman duly delivered with his 3rd in the competition (after his brace against PEA last week) to bring the lead into half time.
Sadly the Warriors couldn’t build on it as too many of the team like John Wilkinson, Hafiz Osman and even substitute Mustaquim Manzur had a rather lackluster evening.
With one swift counter attack led by skipper Elie Aiboy from a failed corner attempt from SAF, Mario Costa was left unmarked and got the equalizer, much to the joy to that few Medan fans in stealth mode in the stands.

Richard Bok’s lads grind hard but to no avail for the winner with the Indons do their time delay tactic hoping for a peanlty shootout.
Extra time for the 2nd week in a row and perhaps the Man of the Match Ahmad Latiff scored a wonderful thumper past PSMS custodian Markus Harison.
With 2 players sent off (including the clown of the game, Octovianus Maniani or Otto), SAF was in total control and should had scored another 2 goals.
Nevertheless the victory long overdue against a bland ISL side.

Being the first S.League club to break into Asian’s football elite is truly an astonishing achievement and for that, we at FOW salute you.

The pride of S.League

The final hurdle before Kashima, Shanghai and Suwon

The journey won't be easy

Extra time for the second successive game

Match winner Ahmad Latiff celebrating in there somewhere

History in the making

The path of Champions is yours to walk

Poll: Best Foreign Talent that played for Us

There had been a recent buzz when some true blue Dolphins fans came onboard and had a hearty chat on who is the greatest foreign talent that had graced the pitch of Hougang Stadium since Marine Castle United was introduced in the S League.

We have to face the fact that Marine Castle/ Sengkang Marine/ Paya Lebar Punggol/ Sengkang Punggol has been the most novice of all constituency club and without any illustrous history, we rarely see top notch local players wanting to ply their trade for us.
Therefore we tends to rely on nomadic foreign talents to produce results for us… The results hadn’t always been positive but they do add on to our colorful history.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

And the winner of the poll is Michael Currie!!

Congrats to the former QPR trainee who had a memorable loan stint with us in 1999 sadly had a truncated professional career after breaking his metatarsal after returning to London.
Currie did played in conference  sides Hayes, non league Harrow Borough & last heard to be playing for Beaconsfield SYCOB FC.
The talented attacking midfielder which was touted to score freely surely captivated the imagination of the Hougang faithful in his short spell here, while unfortunately I had not had the leisure to witness it myself.

The final poll result

A nice total of 41 votes (including mine and wretchedguy) over the course of a week was recieved and former Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest and now Shrewsbury front man, Grant Holt was leading for almost half the time when the poll was out before Michael Currie came surging past.
On the 2nd runners up spot is yet another Englishman in former Arsenal trainee Thomas English while my pick and our Australian captain marvel, Tony Carbone came in 4th.
Wretchedguy’s pick of the flamboyant Nigerian forward Bernard Ayree could only garner his vote.

Thank you for your participation and we are looking forward to future polls which may include most memorable local footballers that played for us for next month.

Team News

With ten days of inactivity until our next league game, the team will be heading up north to Malaysia to play a friendly with Malaysia Premier League side, Johor FA.

Details
Date: 27th Feb, Friday
Venue: Larkin Stadium, Johor Bahru
Time: 2030hrs

S.League Season 2009 – Match 2

	Opponent: Albirex Niigata (S) FC Date: 23rd Feb, 1945hrs Venue: Jurong East Stadium Final Score: 0 – 1 (Indra Sahdan Daud 36′)
A confidence boosting win for the entire team, personal truimphs for individual players and a victory at long last for the undying supporters. Albirex parading their full team to the home fans The Dolphins in their new away strips Aide and Jorg discuss tactics on half time The goalscoring hopes of Sengkang Punggol The team savors the hard earned victory with Yamamoto collapsing from overexertion Starting lineup vs Albirex Niigata (S) Wreckidigidy’s observations Left Jurong East Stadium on the high after we secured our first win. So many positives including Indra nabbing his first goal since moving to the Hougang unit as well as we keeping the young Japanese at bay with a clean sheet. Aside from some nervy moments when the White Swans launched their speedy attacks, I thought we held our own with a spirited display with the formation which work pretty well for us in the pre-season: 4-5-1. Yamamoto put his listless display at Jalan Besar aside to shield the defense well, cleaning up many loose balls; if he improves on his distribution and vision, he would be perfect for the role. Kudos to the likes of Joey, Jerry and Meng Meng who at times threw their body to defend the lead especially Jerry who made up for his lack of pace with a courageous performance. Aide was still a bit muted but reek experience in the middle of defense while Noh Rahman’s quality to dictate the game when it matters showed in the latter stage when he continually frustrate the young Japanese counterparts to foul him. Nor Azli assumed an unfamiliar role comfortably after Zahid was forced out with an injury though he could curb pulling rash challenges which saw him collecting yellow cards for fun last season. Murphy who provided that telling pass for Indra’s goal which cut the Albirex defense like a knife through butter should had topped a great performance with a goal early in the 2nd period which unfortunately rebound off the left upright after duly beaten Matsushita in Albirex’s goal. Indra scored that cool finish to hand us the crucial 3 points away from home and nearly scored with a lob. It’s still premature to assume he could return to his prime but even at 50% of his ability, he is an asset for our attack. My man of the match surely has to be Abdoulaye Diallo Djibril who ran tirelessly with the free role Jorg had assigned him. He was constantly a menace to the Albirex’s defense and showed his ability to hold the ball and put his team mates into good attacking positions. Surely a stark improvement from last Friday’s game but still there is plenty to work on in the coming weeks. I wasn’t convinced that Noh Rahman could playing in the central midfield role but he repaid Jorg’s decision to play him there with a sound performance. With Meng Meng excelling once again on the rightback and Nor Azli showing versatility to deputise on the left as well, perhaps the national team skipper can mold himself into a “Ryan Giggs” at the twilight of his career (abit too early now though). Another unconventional but effective tactical move by Jorg was to introduce the lanky Anthony for Farizal on the right wing in the 2nd half. Not known for his crossing and pace, the Trinidad & Tobago-born Canadian forward did well enough to fluster the feathers of teh Japanese especially the left back Keisuke Ogawa who could not moved into the advance role as much he would like. Overall I think the team played according to tactics and shown alot of attacking impetus with a total of 12 shots at goal (6 on and 6 off); much to the delight to the partizan Sengkang fans. As for our opponents, they played as spirited as Albirex is known to be. The absence of captain Uchida was felt and if they could work a bit more on the accuracy of their crossing and chemistry between the newly inducted players, they will be a force to be reckon with. We cannot rest on our laurels with games coming fast and furious against quality sides like Geylang, Tampines and Super Reds to come. Nonetheless the lads deserved some recuperation especially the likes of Yamamoto and Zahid and hope for more moments of glory soon. Wretchedguy’s after-lunch thoughts The monkey is finally off the shoulders, for Jorg to deliver that important first win with the strongest team to date, for Indra to prove to doubters that he has not lose any of his predatory instinct, but most importantly for the long suffering supporters like ourselves, who have always crave for victories but never really getting them. Nothing to gripe about. The whole team played out of their skins and thoroughly deserved the win. Handing Abdoulaye the free role was without a doubt, the masterstroke that swung the game in our favor. The way he skilfully weaved his way past the opposition was a delight to watch and at times, mesmerising. His distribution was deadly accurate and he wasn’t shy in making full blooded challenges when the need arose. Finally I can understand why he was rated highly during his times in the Indonesian league. If that was just a glimpse of what we can expect from him, I’ll be salivating my way to future games. With three of our efforts coming off the post and crossbar in the last two games, lady luck has shown that she hasn’t been kind to us. But if we continue to build on last night’s great performance, we’ll make our own luck. And the results will definitely come. Food in the Crowd: Onigiri (rice ball)… Something different from the usual nasi lemak and what not The Real 81st Academy Award Best Actor Award Winner: Yoshitaka Komori in “How I Fluke the Ref in believing that Noh Rahman even touch me” Celebrity in the Crowd: Singapore Idol 2 winner Hady Mirza… Is he a Sengkang fan or an Indra fan? Will we ever see SPFC merchandise selling at Hougang Stadium?

Albirex Niigata (S) vs Sengkang Punggol: Pre-match

Hours before our inaugural venture to the Jurong East Stadium as the Dolphins play one of the teams we had beaten (albeit luckily) in pre-season, Albirex Niigata (S).

Fresh off from the televised defeat on Friday which saw plenty of netizens (and some fair weather “Sengkang fans”) to claim that Sengkang is straight candidate for the cellar spot again…yada, yada, yada…
But the truth is the team really lacks cohesion and understanding on the pitch on Friday and we surely need more time (especially competitively) to gel.
The unsightly squabbling due to lack of chemistry between Anthony and Yamamoto last Friday has to stop while we have to see leaders emerging from all corners.
The latter stages of that defeat to Gombak United saw Indra taking more initiative to fall back and made use of his natural talent to control the ball and a flash of his old pace sure will bring us hope.
His strike partner, Anthony Bahadur had a torrid introduction to local football… Muted by the defensive pairing of Bah Mamadou & Odion Obadin, our targetman had to show much improvement if he wants to open account against Albirex defensive lynchpin Takashi Uchida who has shrugged off an injury which kept him out of that opening defeat to Geylang when he was badly missed.
Murphy Wiredu, too had a subdued evening having to play out of position on the right wing had a couple of chances but seemingly took too long to conjure a meaningful shot at goal.

From the friendly game at Hougang Stadium, we can see that head coach Naoki Naruo wants their players to clamp down their opposition by numbers; and with their fitness and finesse, the White Swans did so with ease in that friendly game especially in the midfield.
The center of the midfield has been our soft belly since pre-season and surely would be exploited by a team eventually, Gombak didn’t really did so though they had no real need to with the quality up front.
Yamamoto’s natural position is the center of defense and so far is not convincing as the defensive midfielder while despite his enthusiasim, Abdoulaye looks too flimsy to deliver on his own for the entire game.

The Japanese loves to attack from their surging fullbacks, with Keisuke Ogawa one to watch out for and their speedy forwards in Adachihara and the returning Akira Takase might be much a problem for our elder statesmen at the rear as Obatola had shown.

We surely have the capacity and ability to steal a win against the young Albirex side at their own home turf but a decent goal-scoring draw ain’t such a bad result for me.
The opportunity to cheer heartily for a goal scored by our team on away fixture without losing is still elusive for us and something we would surely cherished…

Team by Team Analysis Part 3.2

In part 2 of the “Also Ran” group, we take a look at the team many fancy to bite the dust this season: the toothless tigers from Toa Payoh. Even till now, it is unbelievably hard to fathom that despite Sengkang Punggol’s atrocious league performance last season, one team could actually go one worse and finished below us. But that was 2008. Surely they can’t get any worse this time, can they. Errr… ANYWAY here’s what Bryan has to say about the 2009 cohort.
Club: Balestier Khalsa Football Club Nickname: The Tigers Gaffer: Nasaruddin Abdul Jalil Key Men to Watch: Jufri Taha, Julio Eduardo, Ithanar Likely Surprise Hit of the Season: None
The Buzz: If only the Tigers’ team is as good as its webmaster. It is not known to many S-League fans that Balestier’s man behind its website is so efficient that at times, he puts those behind the official and mainstream websites to shame. However, those are the mere compliments that I have for the Tigers because the once mighty Toa Payoh side (which dominated the old Premier League with Geylang International and the defunct Tiong Bahru United) is a firm favourite for the wooden spoon this season. While Chairman, Thavaneson and Co. can continue to hide behind the facade that the Tigers are adopting a youth policy to give fringe and young players a chance to play top-flight football; they can’t deny that it is in fact their measly budget that has moulded the direction where the club is heading. Granted that the Tigers turned a few heads with their League Cup 2nd runners-up finish, rattled some nerves and caused a couple of upsets last season but the stark League statistics tell the irrefutable truth- they lost 67% of their games and justifiably finished rock bottom.   The current economic meltdown has lent Balestier’s approach more legitimacy and to make matters worse, they have signed mediocre foreigners (and probably cheaper options) in the likes of Australian forward, Bryan Soane and American defender, Seth Galloway (who is fresh out of school!) who failed to impress during the trials. Fortunately, the former seems to have been demoted to the Prime League squad while Galloway will be joined by the impressive Chilean holding midfielder, Cid Lagos Julio Eduardo and two Brazilian forwards, Ednardo Souza Moura and Ithamar Soares Rangel.  New club captain, Jufri Taha (one of a few rare young gems produced by the Tigers) will lead the defense which will be joined by two Sengkang Punggol castaways, Mahmod Hashim and Hafez Mawasi. Sofiyan Abdul Hamid, Han Yiguang, Anantha Rajan, Rhysh Roshan Rai, Poh Yi Feng and Faizal Bin Amir will likely form the core of the Tigers’ local lineup.
Formation and Likely Starting Eleven: 4-4-2 Probable lineup Possible Outcome for Sengkang Against Them: wreckidigidy: Home Win, Away Win wretchedguy: Home Win, Away Win

S.League Season 2009 – Match 1

	Opponent: Gombak United FC Date: 20th Feb, 1930hrs Venue: Jalan Besar Stadium Final Score: 0 – 1 (Gabriel Obatola 61′)
The first televised match of the season, our first competitive game of the season, our first heartbreak of the season. Checked, checked and checked. Sure feels good to be back watching football. Pre-match warmups Indra finally all cleared to play Will this be a regular feature or just for the first game? New season, new strip From left: Sazali Salleh, Azhar Baksin, Razali Johari, Amos Boon, Winston Yap, Duncan David Elias, sports trainers Trevor Lee & Jagadeesan, team manager Richard Wong, goalkeeping coach Francis Thomas and head coach Jorg Steinebrunner Impressive (and perhaps hungry) crowd by half time Haven't seen so many Sengkang supporters for a while, hope to see them more frequently this season The picture tells all The victors The dejecteds Starting lineup The match highlight brilliantly edited by footy4eva Wretchedguy’s afterthoughts With the majority of pre-season preparation focused on playing 4-5-1 formation, switching to 4-4-2 in the eleventh hour with a new teammate and deploying two others in unfamiliar roles would surely disrupt the harmony of the play. And sure it did. Individually and collectively, the team played with neither flow nor cohesion. We seem bereft of attacking ideas going forward, making it difficult to watch. And when we went one goal down, there wasn’t any sense of urgency in trying to chase the game. Right-footed Farizal was ineffective on the left wing and it showed when there wasn’t much activity down that side for long periods, Murphy was restricted on the other flank, rendering his usual direct running and hard shooting useless. Yamamoto continues to torment me with his lifeless display in the anchor role. Abdoulaye showed glimpses of fine individual offensive play but it was just that, momentary. Indra, for all his enthusiasm and encouraging play, couldn’t get his thoughts across to his teammates. His role became more withdrawn in the second half when he tried to drop deep to organise offensive moves but paradoxically left a hole in attack. The right side of defense earned their keep with Meng Meng exceptionally solid on the right, as always. I don’t recall him putting a wrong foot at all for the whole game. Jerry made a lot of crucial covering moves. Zahid and Aide put up muted displays though, almost too quiet for my liking. Though there were more negatives than positives to draw from this game, it ain’t the end of the world. We still have 32 games to set things right. That’s almost nine months to go. With more training and playing time together, the team will definitely improve. Afterall, a bad team does not become a good one overnight. Wreckidigidy’s afterthoughts Disappointed but not disheartened was what I felt straight after the game. As wretchedguy mentioned, it is still early days to draw parallel between tonight’s despondent performance with last season’s overall torrid display. Gombak looks like a team playing with discipline and purpose and with their defense consisting of the 2 African centerbacks keeping the likes of Anthony and Indra quiet the entire evening while young Jeremy Chiang was the pick of the lot for me. The goal was well worked between the 2 forwards showing chemistry developed since mid last season. We will see the Bulls fighting for accolades which our team has some gap to shorten. With the likes of Shev’ki, Theerawesin and Fazrul to come in as well, they ought to be. Though it’s not the best that we are playing Albirex away in 3 days time but hopefully by then Indra can start clicking with his fellow forwards while Yamamoto can get more assimilated in the anchorman role Of course Noh Rahman will be back and hope it will make some difference. Albirex sent 2-3 scouts for the game but with such display they shouldn't fear too much

Sengkang Punggol VS Gombak Utd: Pre-match

After a week absence, chilling out (literally) at the land of the rising sun, I am back and raring to go for the Dolphins’ first league game of the season.

Over the course of the final week of pre-season, I seemed to have miss out on some noteworthy events in the local footballing scene. Firstly DPMM FC of Brunei has successfully replaced (some local fans felt ousted is the better word) Dalian Shide Shiwu (damn there goes our chance for our revenge on the losses from last season). Then early this week, Indra finally put his signature on the dotted line for our club which surely would be a great platform to rejuvenate his ailing career. Lastly on the night of my arrival back home, SAFFC did our league and even our nation proud by beating PEA in the AFC Champions League 1st qualifying round in Bangkok (1-1 after full time, 4-1 after extra time). Richard’s warriors are just one foot into the group stage (inaugural for a S League side) if they manage to beat ISL recent strugglers, PSMS Medan at Jalan Besar on Wednesday (the FOW team would be there to witness history in the making and hopefully don’t bring our curse over)

Anyway what a way to start the campaign for the Dolphins in a televised game at Jalan Besar Stadium against my 2nd favorite S League outfit, the Bulls.
The game which is deemed our home game and the board decided to waive off admission to generate more interest from more casual fans. Free Mc Donald meals for early birds will surely be another selling point but I do hope genuine fans would come for a good match rather than a free meal.

Our gaffer Jorg will have an almost fully fit side aside from Nor Azli and Noh Rahman who are both serving suspension carried over from last season. Law Meng Meng who really impressed me in pre-season is rightfully due to play on the right back for sure.
Indra who is seemingly serving his 1 month notice from his resignation from the police force will sit out but we should still have enough firepower up front to trouble the Bulls’ defense who miss skipper Shev’ki Shaban who is out on suspension. The Thai wizard Theerawesin Seehawong will also be force to sit out for this game, so surely the game is on for us if we have the capacity to barricade our defense against the speedy attacking unit which comprises of Agu Casmir and Gabriel Obatola for sure.

A victory will surely set the season ablaze for us but all I hope for is a determined performance from the lads.
The next 2 games are also against sides who we should match competitively in Alibrex and Geylang; if we couldn’t get anything from these 3 games, I think all the pre-season expectations might fizzles into false hopes.
Nevertheless it is still early days to say anything and everyone should understand Rome is not built in one day; so we should give enough time and patience for the squad to gel and produce results on the pitch.

So for an exciting season ahead and truly one to relish…