Kenneth Tan
info@sleague.com
The theme for the day was charity, with all revenue from match ticket sales donated to relief efforts for the recent Japan earthquake.
But what the 1,519 fans present at Jalan Besar Stadium on Saturday evening did not expect was that the Courts Young Lions, who hosted the match, were equally as generous in conceding five goals to visitors Albirex Niigata (Singapore).
One goal in the first half and another four in the space of 15 second-half minutes ensured the Japanese team snapped their three-match losing streak in fine style.
The sight of the relatively clean jersey of Albirex goalkeeper Yoshito Matsushita after the game said everything about the chances the Young Lions created.
Until his substitution just before the hour mark, lone striker Shahfiq Ghani hardly had a sniff of the Albirex goal, not helped by the lack of width provided by wingers Fazli Ayob and Nazrul Ahmad Nazari.
Vanda Sports CEO Ian Mullane, whose company takes charge of the Young Lions’ marketing, publicity and matchday operations, was even seen shaking his head in disbelief after the fifth goal.
Perhaps the fact that the bulk of the squad had been involved in the two-legged Olympic qualifiers last week took a toll on this young side, as coach Robin Chitrakar explained after the match.
“You can see the boys’ performance in the second half wasn’t good especially,” said the 34-year-old.
“One of the reasons is because we played two games in three days in UAE. Next thing, we have a long journey back, we travelled a total of about 12 hours so we couldn’t train the next day.
“We only had two days of training before playing this match. The long journey took the toll in the second half when the boys couldn’t push as hard as they wanted to.
“All compliments to the Albirex side as they played a really good game. You can see from their technique and mobility which our boys could not cope with,” he added.
The Jalan Besar stands were initially rocked by the sight of a stunning goal on 13 minutes.
There seemed no danger when Albirex skipper Shimpei Sakurada received a slide-rule pass from Atsushi Shimono just outside the arc of the box, but the shaven-headed midfielder stunned the crowd by flicking the ball up and unleashing a left-footed screamer into the top left corner of goal, giving Young Lions custodian Jasper Chan no chance at all.
It was the 23-year-old’s first start of the season after a lengthy spell out with a knee injury, which explains a couple of nervy moments he had during the first half.
Firstly, miscommunication between him and centreback Eddie Chang led to an Albirex corner. Then he came out but failed to collect the ball, resulting in the loose ball falling to Kazuki Kobayashi, who unleashed a powerful shot from range which he tipped wide to redeem himself.
Albirex were the more confident side, with their players spraying the ball around and having more composure on the ball, unlike the hosts, whose quality with the final ball was found lacking.
It was evident that the visitors’ football was of a different level.
Other than a couple of wild efforts from Afiq Yunos and Syafiq Zainal, they only had one significant attack in the first half.
A breakaway after a clearance from an Albirex corner saw Nazrul running almost the full length of the pitch in an attempt to set up Shahfiq, but his through pass lacked weight and direction as the ball rolled straight into the arms of Matsushita.
The impact of captain Hariss Harun’s exclusion due to injury was sorely felt.
The Young Lions did start the second half in a slightly more confident manner, putting the Albirex defence under good pressure for the first ten minutes. However, that was not enough for them as they fell further behind after that wave dissipated.
The angle looked to be beyond Tatsuro Inui when Albirex were awarded a free kick at the right-hand side of the box on 55 minutes, but the cultured left-footer jolted the crowd again with a curling effort that sailed over everyone, including the stranded Chan in goal.
That broke any ounce of resistance that the hosts were capable of as they conceded another three in the minutes that followed.
The third came on 58, when Albirex centreback Norihiro Kawakami outjumped Chan to head home an Inui corner.
The fourth, coming nine minutes later, was almost a replica of the third when substitute Shuhei Hotta sent a powerful header past Chan from a corner with his first touch of the game, having ghosted into an attacking position.
The rout was completed on 70 minutes largely due to Chan’s mad rush of blood to the head.
The danger seemed minimal when a clever Sakurada long ball sent Yosuke Saito en route to goal, considering Afiq was covering the Albirex striker, but the custodian chose the peculiar option of rushing out of his goal. The result was a superb lobbed finish by Saito over Chan and into the empty net.
Despite Chan’s shaky performance, Chitrakar refused to blame his custodian.
“I think the whole team should take the blame, it’s a team error. This is a team sport, no one should take the blame individually,” he said.
Izzdin Shafiq had the chance to pull a consolation back for the Young Lions late into the game, but his 30-yard effort sailed wide of goal.
Despite the manner of this defeat, Chitrakar is not pressing the panic button just yet.
“Of course the spirits are down (after this game), but I’m sure from the next training session onwards they will correct what they have done wrong and move on from there.”
Meanwhile Albirex coach Koichi Sugiyama was modest as always when he spoke at the post-match press conference.
“Although we won this game, we have many things still to improve,” he noted.
“The Young Lions played in Olympic qualifiers and had a tight schedule, I heard, thus they didn’t play well. Also, after we scored two, their defence’s pressure on us became weak.”
The 39-year-old attributed the victory to his team’s ability to convert set plays into goals.
“We didn’t play well in the first half, but in the second half we played well, especially in set plays,” he noted.
“We are lucky on those set plays. In the past five games, we only scored against Woodlands through a set play, but this time we scored three, so we are happy.”
He also had words of gratitude for club supporters and well-wishers who have been donating to Japan’s disaster relief efforts.
“I appreciate that many people donated for the Japan disaster, we really appreciate Singaporeans’ kindness!”
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