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Two sides with plenty to prove clash on Monday
W.Ng
info@sleague.com
Far more than nationalistic pride will be at stake at the first meeting of two of the S.League's foreign
sides at the Queenstown stadium come Monday night.
Dalian Shide approach their first competitive home match aiming to prove that they are not just here to
make up the numbers, while the Super Reds will look to continue expiating the cellar-dwelling season they had last year.
The Chinese team's opening match ended in a 2-1 loss to last season's league runners-up Home United at the Bishan stadium, although they will take heart from the manner in which they took the game to a team that has been a powerhouse in local football in recent years.
The element of surprise is very much on the side of the Chinese team, although questions have already been raised in certain quarters about the discipline of the team, as they do enjoy the dubious distinction of having had a man - midfielder Quan Heng - sent off in their first match in Singapore.
Quan Heng will have to sit out the match against the Super Reds on Monday and Dalian's outing against Woodlands Wellington on February 28, while Li Zhichao, Zheng Jianfeng and Jiang Jihong all sit on one yellow card after the match against the Protectors.
It remains to be seen if youthful exuberance - the oldest player in the side just turned 19 last month,
while four players on their books have just turned 18 - will be a good enough substitute for raw experience as they endeavour to achieve their pre-season target of a top-six finish.
To be fair, most of the players they will be facing on Monday night are similarly new to the local game, with 16 of the 22-man Super Reds side having been drafted in from Korea in the close season.
The Super Reds, however, fared better on the opening day of the season, a 2-1 win over Woodlands earning them bragging rights early in the season.
So impressive were they early in that match, in fact, that there have already been murmurs of a title
challenge, talk that has done nothing to damage the confidence of General Manager Cheon Jong Ku ahead of the match against Dalian.
"Of course (we are confident). The morale is very high among the players."
Former Home United striker Jeon Kyeong Joon, who has assumed coaching duties at the club, was similarly upbeat.
"Most of the Dalian players are very young. They are very good athletes, but they don't have any
experience, not in the S.League, and we have the advantage in that respect.
"We also went down to watch them play against Home United, so we have some idea of how they play."
Returning to the fray to help his side's cause is Lim Dae Geun, one of just five players who survived the mass cull at the end of last season, but one player who might be missing out is Oh Ddog Yi.
"We have a slight injury to Oh Ddog Yi, but it is mild. We have enough players to cover for him." |
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