Sengkang Punggol vs DPMM: Pre-match

I have a confession to make….

I have a growing disdain of Brunei DPMM FC. I wouldn’t say it’s a “staunch dislike” but I would not mind them losing some games from time to time.

You might say  I am just jealous of the team that became the first foreign club to win something in Singapore football. Jealous of a team which was assembled at the very last minute with everyone in the Singapore football fraternity skeptical about their fitness level after being exempted from taking the beep test.
Jealous of a team which is unbeaten in their own Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium since the beginning of time, while the team I am actually supporting would be satisfied with half that amount of points they had garnered so far.

Like my fellow contributor to this blog, I am not taking away the good work glib-tongued Croatian coach Vjeran Simunic and his band of merry Brunei internationals complimented with perhaps the most decent looking quartet of foreign signings (with the exception of SAF & Gombak) had been brewing so far. They had been going against the odds and achieveing successes when everyone though everything was against them.

The Wasps, if that is their actual nickname, characteristically laboured for their success like their insect counterpart and in doing so, they appeased their queen bee (i.e. the royal family that is backing them up) while reaped the rewards of their honey combs (i.e. the trophy and a decent 3rd position in the league so far).

But they had been criticized for not playing the most ornate football on the pitch as well resorting to fouling opposition to disrupt their attacking momentum and collecting a plethora of yellow cards (once again color of the wasps).
But quoting John Wilkinson in his recent interview with TODAY:

“I don’t want to jinx it but honestly, the key is winning – even if we play ugly.”

DPMM Fc had been winning ugly but that’s the most important aspect of football ultimately.

This brings back to the point why they had not been winning the approval of the football fans in Singapore with their style of football which replace effectiveness with elegance.
Personally from those few live matches I had seen them played, especially against the top teams it had always been frantic defending coupled with some lucky goals.

Like many, I had not been a fan of foreign team plying their trade in the S League but one that don’t based it here makes it even unbearable.
I am sure loyal supporters of SAFFC and Tampines would love to attend the so call “away” fixture but the thought of flying to Bandar Seri Begawan on a weekday is simply not appealing.
Then there was no effort to live stream the matches and we fans back in Singapore had to depend on live updates not from S League.com but some dubious betting sites.

Without witnessing the games live, we had to depend on the post match reports which often to paint the full picture, this really takes the fun out of things.

There is also the barrage of comments made to their local media by the coach and players that rubbed people in Singapore the wrong way.
Many had described Simunic as the Mourinho of Singapore football; able to deliver results but the least popular guy in class with his comments. But the comments made by him and his players from how they would nail the Beep test to how the referees here had been in cahoot to issue them yellow cards for no apparent reasons are just distasteful.
However it was not all bad as we do need such controversial characters in a rather mundane Singapore football where words of negativity (although in truth it is negative) are to be muttered.

For once there is an antagonist for local fans to look forward to beating and I myself wouldn’t mind seeing DPMM losing on regular basis at this juncture.
As much as I did not like the sight of DPMM as of any other foreign teams playing here, they had been a decent side unlike those dodgy outfits like the satellite teams of Chinese Super League sides or under-provished Africans swindled by an ex talentless actor.

Going into the game at Hougang Stadium on Monday, our forthcoming opponents did had good words to comment on our team, stating that we were the hardest opposition they had to face at that point.

Of course at that time, DPMM had yet to get into top gear especially Algerian Hamid Berguiga had yet to show his full goal scorinig prowess.
Ourselves also had to play Prime league keeper Fahmy Rahman and was playing with 10 men when an unecessary resentful act by Jerry Bartholomeusz saw him going into early showers.

On Monday, DPMM FC would look on to be the favorites against the 10th position team in the standings. What makes the uphill task more arduous would be the fact that the 2 defensive midfielders that had been putting in decent diaplays of late Noh Rahman and Nur Azli Yusoff would be suspended.
I wonder who Aide would elect to fill the gap. Sensibly it would be Abdoulaye Diallo and Murphy Wiredu, but between them the only defensive act they can pull might be against the Mauritius U-14 girls team.
Yamamoto would be another good choice but he had been the beacon in the defense for us so far and his absence at the back would be unimaginable.
Meanwhile the triumvirate of Murphy, Anthony and Abdoul’s brother Mamadou had been working well up front with Indra Sahdan, meaning it is looking bleak to properly cover the gap in the middle.

Of course DPMM would be missing Berguiga through suspension as well while I also hope Ivan Jerkovic would not recover in time from his recent surgery.

Regardless of who Aide select to face the Bruneians on Monday, I just hope they would continue to prove a stumbling block and put in the spirited display as shown of late.
In those 2 games, the team had looked good in attack and albeit the 10 minutes of defensive calamity to give Super Reds, we had not been took weak defensively as well (especially with Amos coming in for Joey at goal).
I am sure this is the type of dogged display Sengkang Punggol fans past and present had been yearning to see, so let’s head down to Hougang Stadium to cheer on the team and equalize what I assume to be a racuous crowd that would be behind that of DPMM FC.