Singapore S. League: Albirex Niigata Put An End To Geylang’s Winning Streak

Geylang International's seven-game undefeated streak came to an end on Thursday evening after they were given a 4-2 annihilation by Albirex Niigata (S) at Jurong East Stadium.

Kazuki Sakamoto, Shuhei Hotta, Kazuya Okazaki and Kento Nagasaki carved their names onto the scoresheet while Fabian Kwok and Ridhuan Muhammad scored for the Eagles.

The White Swans took the driver’s seat through Kazuki Sakamoto as they took an early lead in the game.

Leonel Felice made a mis-pass to Kazuya while the midfielder perfectly laid a through ball into space for Sakamoto to lock on to. Protecting Joaquin Lopez away, the latter opened the ball into the bottom corner from 15 yards out.

However, it didn't take long for Geylang to force themselves to level and it was Kwok who only did that with his 50-yard marvel strike in the 32nd minute.

With the Eagles heaping the weight on the striking end, Albirex goalkeeper Kazuki Kishigami was compelled to make a clearance which fell consummately for Kwok.

The midfielder then splendidly struck the ball in mid-air as the ball cruised towards the goal and dipped past Kazuki.

The following half ended up being a more energizing than the first, as spectators were delighted with four more goals.

Afterwards, for the first time in the match, Geylang took the lead.

Kwok turned scorer-provider as he discovered Ridhuan in space for the skipper to place his finish past the hapless Kishigami.

Nonetheless, Albirex set themselves back into the game in under ten minutes through Shuhei. From a Keisuke Ota whipped cross down the right, the skipper executed a striker-esque's completion to impact it into the top corner from the six-yard box on the 54th minute.

The momentum suddenly shifted to Albirex from that point on and they soon recovered the lead in the 71st minute through Kazuya.

From the left, Itsuki Yamada heaved a cross in for the forward to volley into Joey Sim's palms, yet the force of the shot was so much it would have been impossible for the custodian to handle and bungled the ball and permitted it to move past the goal-line.

Nine minutes later, Kento then fixed the win for his side in the wake of setting the ball in the middle of the posts in a one-on-one attempt with Sim.

The Eagles had no possibility to get back and to intensify things, they were reduced to 10 men when Mustaqim Manzur gained marching orders for a second bookable offense in the 85th minute.

Finally, the last whistle was blown by the referee ending the thrilling match between Geylang and Albirex.

Asean All-Stars Bola Sepak News: Singapore Trio Ishak, Harun And Sunny To Reperesent Singapore In A Charity Match

The Singapore trio will be part of the group to tackle Indonesia in an official charity match to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia on May 11.

Former LionsXII duo Shahril Ishak and Hariss Harun together with Warriors FC custodian Hassan Sunny have been chosen to represent Singapore in the Asean All-Stars side who are set to take Indonesia on May 11.

The charity match is expected to raise funds for the casualties of Typhoon Haiyan that struck the Philippines late last year.

The Singaporean trio will be joined by an assembly of stars from over the area with 10 AFF part countries giving players.

Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam have the most number of delegates while Hassan Sunny is one of just two goalkeepers rang for the match.

In spite of the fact that Piayong Pue-on was relied upon to lead the group, Malaysia national coach, K. Rajagobal will rather assume responsibility with the previous Thailand star being unavailable for the match.

The AFF had additionally targeted previous Singapore coach, Raddy Avramovic who is with Myanmar now; together with previous Thai coach Winfried Schaefer and previous Philippines coach Michael Weiss. Every one of the three was likewise unavailable.

Rajagobal told AFF.com, “We do not have a lot of time but being professionals I believe the players will all be ready for the match. This is more of an exhibition match and what’s important is that we put up a good entertaining football for the fans.

The bottom-line is that we want to contribute to the victims of Typhoon Haiyan.”

Indonesia in the interim has named a strong squad also to face the Asean All Stars.

“The match is very important to us. It is not just another game. We are playing against quality players which means they are very capable of playing a very good game and giving us a hard time,” Indonesia coach Alfred Riedl told AFF.

S.League News: Warriors FC Is Set To Bounce Back From Their Defeat

In spite of the 4-1 pounding by Home United in the Great Eastern Yeo's S.League match, Warriors FC coach, Alex Weaver accepted it was a one-off and that his charges were fit for a finer showing than what was conveyed against their uniformed opponents.

Indra Sahdan Daud struck twice after half-time to secure every one of the three points for the Bishan-based club after Hafiz Rahim offset Fazrul Nawaz's opener in the first-half.

Bruno Castanheira then took home the cake in second-half stoppage time to top off a noteworthy execution from Home.

Weaver said in an interview after the match that, “It is very disappointing and we are much better than that.

We stop doing certain things that allowed Home United a bit more space.”

“Our strongest 11 against theirs is better than what we saw tonight and it will be different the next time we play them.”

“Their midfield movement and penetration is very good. We did not deal with that in the second half. We will get back together, have a look at things and move on,” added Weaver.

Weaver was sure that his team won't be influenced by the annihilation and requested that his players relegate a finer execution in future matches.

“We are developing together and we have to rough with the smooth and bounce back from this, for sure.”

Weaver's inverse number Lee Lim Saeng was probably charmed with the win.

Lee whose team bounced back from a 4-1 defeat to Albirex Niigata (S) in the previous round said that, “My players deserved to win the match and I am very happy.”

“First half is not bad, we dominated possession but did not create as much chances as the second half.”

“We only played 10 matches in the league and there are still many matches. Every match is important for us,” Lee concluded.