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S.League leaders Tampines Rovers will confirm their place in the AFC Cup Round of 16 if they take three points at the expense of Maldivian club side Victory Sports Club in their penultimate Group G clash at Jalan Besar Stadium on Tuesday.
The sole Singapore representatives in Asian competition are presently second in the group, two points behind leaders Muang Thong United of Thailand and four clear of 2010 V-League champions Hanoi T&T after their crucial 3-1 home win last Wednesday.
In their previous encounter in the Maldivian capital Male, the Stags ran out comfortable 3-1 winners over their opponents, with goals coming from Benoit Croissant, captain Aleksandar Duric and Jamil Ali before Victory netted the only goal of their AFC Cup campaign so far through Hussain Shimaz.
The 2010 Maldives FA Cup winners have since lost four consecutive games in the group to stop themselves from progressing beyond the group stage, but Tampines head coach Steven Tan cautioned against taking things for granted in what he called a must-win match for the hosts.
“We will aim to go for victory to ensure we go into the second round,” said the former Singapore international at the pre-match press conference.
“We do not want to put ourselves in a situation where we have to go to Bangkok and put ourselves under tremendous pressure to get a win against Muang Thong at their home ground next week.”
Stags goalkeeper Hassan Sunny called on his teammates to maintain their excellent winning run, after getting their 2011 campaign off to an excellent start on both domestic and continental fronts.
“Although we are playing back-to-back games, there is no sign of fatigue among our players,” emphasised the national custodian.
“We are on a good winning streak, and we hope to continue our winning performance with a result against Victory.”
They appear to be in a good position to pull that off against Victory, who are currently second in their recently-started Dhivehi League, winning three of their opening four games and earning a goalless draw in the remaining one.
In the AFC Cup, however, it has been a very different story for the Maldivians, who have made no progress on their previous three campaigns in 2007, 2008 and 2010.
Victory head coach Suzain Ali lamented the lack of financial strength of the club that caused his team to be the whipping boys of the group.
“The financial status of the Maldivian clubs is not as good as those from the Singapore and Thai clubs,” he explained on the team’s inability to gain any point from their matches played so far.
“In our local league we weren’t so bad, but in the AFC Cup it was absolutely bad. We crashed to a heavy defeat at home in our last game, so I hope we can give a good fight against Tampines.”
With the other Maldives representative VB Sports also faring badly in the tournament, it was a far cry from 2005 when New Radiant progressed into the last four before crashing out.
Victory captain Sabah Mohamed Ibrahim, who was involved in that run then, attributed the early success to better quality imports in the playing and technical staff.
“A few years back, we had a good foreign coach and three good foreign players, one of whom is (former Geylang United player) Boyko Simeonov,” he recalled.
“Our preparations were also good at that time, so we were able to go far in the competition then.”
Looking ahead at this fixture, where the visitors have only pride to play for, both Suzain and Sabah are hoping to get the best they can against Tampines.
“Tomorrow I can promise a much improved performance from our boys against Tampines,” said Suzain.
“We are used to the artificial turf back in Maldives, and Jalan Besar has a better surface than we enjoy back home.”
Sabah also made his goal clear.
“I hope we can get a point out of this game.”
Tan will have every member of the senior squad available for selection, after South Korean defender Park Yo Seb has recovered from his rib injury and is set to return to the starting lineup.
Shukor Zailan will likely partner Japanese midfielder Akihiro Nakamura in the middle of the park, with Jufri Taha and Aliff Shafaein relegated to the bench from the side that thumped Balestier Khalsa 5-0 on Saturday.
There will be at least two changes from the Victory side that lost to Tampines in their last head-to-head encounter.
Nigerian forward Monday Patrick Ogbole did not manage to get his visa in time to travel with the squad to Singapore, while defender Ahmed Ashfan remained in the Maldives after sustaining a right calf strain.
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