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Ahead of their AFC Cup Group G clash with Vietnam’s Hanoi T&T on Tuesday, Tampines Rovers are playing it cool.
The weather in the Vietnamese capital has certainly helped with that, with temperatures staying fairly consistent at about two degrees lower than in Singapore – and that is without the series of thunderstorms that have descended upon the equatorial nation.
Having arrived at Hanoi on Sunday afternoon, the Stags had managed to get a good bit of time to train at the Hang Day Stadium, located at the centre of the city.
The training session saw them come out mostly unscathed, right down to goalkeeper Hassan Sunny, who had suffered a minor ankle injury earlier in Singapore but managed to play a key role in the Stags’ last league game, a 2-1 victory over Etoile FC.
That result left the Tampines players in high spirits as they lead the S.League table, a position they will hold even when they return to Singapore from the AFC Cup match.
For the moment, though, team manager Zulkarnaen Zainal was pleased to report that things have been going well ahead of their continental assignment.
“Everyone’s settled down here, so far so good,” he told sleague.com in a long-distance interview.
“The weather’s a bit cold, although the daytime temperature here’s about the same as in Singapore. It’s only at night that it’s colder, but our game’s in the daytime, so it’s like playing at night in Singapore for us.
“Hassan had a bit of flu when we left Singapore, but he’s recovered since we got here. His ankle also gave no trouble after the Etoile game, so he’s ready to play.
“Taufiq (Rahmat)’s recovering from an accident he had back in Singapore, and (Seiji) Kaneko has a slight knock above his knee. But otherwise everyone is coming up well for the game.”
Tampines face a Hanoi T&T side showing signs of resurgence in recent weeks, after the reigning V-League champions had held Becamex Binh Duong and fellow AFC Cup participants Song Lam Nghe An to consecutive draws before pounding Navibank Saigon 4-0 on Saturday.
That result put the team fifth in the V-League standings, six points behind leaders Song Lam Nghe An, with more than half the season still to go.
They had also bounced back from a disappointing 0-4 thrashing in Thailand at the hands of Muang Thong United to post a 2-0 home win over Maldivian side Victory SC, putting them just a point behind Tampines in the group standings.
With national talisman Le Cong Vinh fully recovered from the injury that had precluded his participation in the AFF Suzuki Cup last December, and Duong Hong Son manning the sticks at the back, T&T certainly boast a significant amount of international experience in their ranks.
Throw in occasional Vietnam midfielder Cao Sy Cuong and former national stalwarts Le Hong Minh and Thach Bao Khanh, and Steven Tan’s charges look set for a scaled-down version of a Vietnam-Singapore tie on Tuesday.
But Zulkarnaen warned against underestimating the remainder of Hanoi T&T’s local contingent, such as key midfielders Nguyen Van Quyet and Vo Duy Nam.
“Both teams have got players of national team level, and it will be useful knowing about those players,” acknowledged the 37-year-old.
“But we cannot just look at their national team players. We have to look at the overall picture, because there’s no point knowing just one or two of their players and not having anything about the rest of them.
“We have been doing our homework, watching the video of their game against Muang Thong. Muang Thong won that game comfortably, but one video alone does not tell us everything.
“We also have to look at ourselves and understand our strengths and weaknesses. That understanding about ourselves will be very important if we want to gauge our own chances of doing well in this game.”
While AFC rules permit each club to register up to four foreigners in continental competitions, including one Asian import player, Hanoi T&T are among a handful of clubs which have opted not to fill that complement.
In fact, only two foreigners have been significantly involved in their Asian campaign so far, namely Brazilian defender Cristiano Roland and Argentine midfielder Matias Recio.
Gonzalo Marronkle, one of the club’s principal offensive weapons alongside Le Cong Vinh, is the final foreigner registered in the club’s AFC Cup squad, although the towering forward has yet to make an appearance in the competition.
Marronkle’s Asia debut, coming on the back of a goal in Hanoi T&T’s last league game, will make him a serious threat, but Zulkarnaen said the Stags were focused on getting the best result they can in Hanoi and would not be distracted by which players Phan Thanh Hung would use.
“At the moment, we know they have two Brazilians, one Argentinean and, I think, one Portuguese,” he noted.
“But from what I know from their past games, they have only really used two of them. I didn’t see the third one, and I find that quite funny.
“It’s not really clear whether that is an advantage for us, but either way, we just want to win and get the three points. If we get three points, we can challenge for being first in the group.
“Like what Steven said at the press conference earlier today, it’s still early in the group stage. There are three more games after tomorrow, so we should take things one game at a time.”
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