Paul Green
info@sleague.com
They had met in the annual pre-season Charity Shield at Jalan Besar Stadium, and when Etoile FC and Tampines Rovers turn up at the same venue in Friday night’s televised Great Eastern-YEO’S S.League match of the week, the sparks are sure to fly once more.
The first time the teams met, Etoile had barely been in Singapore more than twelve days after a whistle-stop tour of Thailand, with a few of their players not even signed by that stage and others awaiting clearance to play in the league matches once they passed the obligatory fitness test.
On that occasion Etoile led early in the game, but their relative inexperience and lack of knowledge of Tampines as a rival team may have aided the Stags as the latter came back to win 2-1 and tasted silverware for the first time in quite a while.
Since then Tampines have triumphed over SAFFC 1-0 and held Home United to a 1-1 draw a week ago on this same Jalan Besar pitch. The Stags led that time and succumbed to a late Home rally.
How this week’s game pans out is anyone’s guess, but it should be compelling viewing both for television audiences and for those who come down to the stadium.
While Tampines are still unbeaten, Etoile have lost only once, by a 0-1 scoreline at Jurong West Stadium against Gombak United in a bruising encounter.
In the past Tampines have not shown their best form at this stadium, while Etoile last season seemed to relish playing there.
It is a totally different Etoile team this year so comparisons are odious, as Stars coach Guglielmo Arena is always keen to point out.
All the same, the French players regularly train on artificial surfaces in their own country and so do not even take the time to train at Jalan Besar ahead of such games, unlike many other teams who are engaged at this facility.
Having said that, Etoile were held to 0-0 by a resilient Balestier Khalsa side on this ground after opening their second season in the league with a 2-0 win at Bedok Stadium over Geylang United.
Perhaps surprised by the Tigers’ tactics that night, it seems unlikely that Etoile will find Tampines as unwilling to open up their creative forces and try and score a few, though one goal may well be enough of course.
It was not really a problem against Home, so maybe Stags coach Steven Tan will try to breach the equally strong Etoile backline too.
Now with all of their players available to play, with the exception of striker Jonathan Justin, Etoile should have enough firepower of their own to trouble Tampines.
And with matches coming up against Home and SAFFC in the days ahead, well-spaced apart it should be added, the Frenchmen do look on course to equal last season’s achievements.
But it all hinges on winning this one or at least taking a point, which might hinder the Stags’ own ambitions.
Etoile’s Jonathan Toto has come into the side fairly recently, as have defender Franklin Anzite and midfielder Hicham Bouchemlal.
For Etoile the fact that Justin won’t be able to play again for another week at least, despite the lanky striker taking part in some training routines on Thursday evening, should not disadvantage them too much.
“We have 19 players in our squad,” said Arena, “more than enough cover for all positions.
“We are not at all concerned that we have one striker absent, as the whole team works together to create and to score goals.
“Tomorrow’s game is very important for us, but it is only the eighth game of the championship,” he stressed.
“We know that Tampines are a very well-organised team and they play as a good, collective unit. Compared to Home United, for instance, they are not relying as much on three or more individuals, but everyone works together and that is their main strength.
“It’s most important for us to win this game, though we won’t necessarily set out to score early. It doesn’t matter if we score early or late, as long as we keep creating chances and we can score enough goals to win the game, that’s all that matters.
“We will be trying to attack for 90 minutes, and we hope to play as well as we did against Malaysia when we created nine or ten good chances. We just have to take more of them this time.”
Tampines coach Tan was meanwhile pleased that the game is being played at Jalan Besar Stadium, rather than at Queenstown since it is Etoile’s home game.
“There are only a couple of good pitches around at the moment,” he ventured.
“Ours is one of them and that’s mainly because we don’t train there more than once a week to keep it in good condition.”
Tampines trained at Jalan Besar on the eve of the match, a perfect opportunity to spare the wear and tear at Tampines Stadium and get a feel of the artificial surface at a ground where they still have at least two AFC Cup games to play this season.
“After playing at Woodlands earlier in the week, on a terrible pitch, playing at Jalan Besar should allow us to play far better football,” said Tan.
“We rested our goalkeeper Hassan Sunny last time, as he was carrying a slight knock he got when he tangled with Frederic Mendy in the Home United match.
“He’s fine now; we just thought it would be a good idea to give the other keeper Alimin (Mohamed) an outing, while we rested Hassan.
“The important thing for us against Etoile is to play a disciplined game. We must try and create and make sure we finish off the chances a lot better than we did in the Home United game,” he admitted.
“It’s sure to be a tight game against Etoile, we are going there to win the game and our objective is always to lose as few points as possible and win as many games as we can.”
The sight of SAFFC sitting at the top of the table overnight should surely be enough to inspire both teams to go all out for the win as, if either can do that, they will definitely shoot past the Warriors and claim early bragging rights in what is shaping up so far as a four-team contest in 2011.
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