AFC Cup 2018: Singaporean player reveals Tampines Rovers' tactics against SLNA

Tampines Rovers squad participating in AFC Cup 2018. Photo: Internet

After losing 1-3 to Bali United (Indonesia) in the AFC Champions League qualifying round last January, Tampines Rovers will meet Song Lam Nghe An in the opening match of Group H of the AFC Cup 2018 tomorrow, February 10.

In the match against the Vietnamese National Cup champions, Fox Sports magazine revealed that the Singaporean club will use quality rookies such as Jordan Webb, Syazwan Buhari, Afiq Yunos and Safirul Sulaiman on the field from the start.

Speaking to Fox Sports Asia, Tampines Rovers defender Daniel Bennett said: "Our strength has been somewhat diminished by some of the new regulations in the domestic league, but our biggest problem is the ability to integrate into a collective play from some of the new players. You could see in our game against Bali United that we simply didn't have the chemistry in our play, all 11 players have to play as a unified team instead of expecting to shine in one area."

Tampines Rovers veteran Daniel Bennett is currently a Singapore national team player with 142 appearances. Photo: FFT

The veteran defender, who turned 40 this year and has 142 caps for Singapore, added: “We have to take maximum points from all our home games using the style of football we want to play. This is unlike the S.League (Singapore National Championship), where home and away advantage is not that significant. In the AFC Cup, winning your home games determines how far you can go in the tournament. Especially when you have to travel to Indonesia, Vietnam and Johor, where their fans will make the difference.”

Also in Fox Sports magazine, Bennett admitted that some adjustments from the new regulations of the S.League, this is a very good opportunity for young players in Singapore to develop. The Singapore National Championship has just stipulated that each club must register at least 6 U23 players and 3 players must play in each match. Tampines Rovers coach Jurgen Raab brought on young players of this team such as Zulfadhmi Suzliman and Amirul Adli in the last minutes of the match.

Also according to Fox Sports magazine, SLNA’s opponent in the upcoming match is likely to have a three-man defense including captain Mustafic Fahrudin, Afiq Yunos and Bennett. Main striker Khairul Amri will lead the attack with support from Fazrul Nawaz, Jordan Webb and Yasir Hanapi behind./.

Tampines Rovers Club will not welcome SLNA at the new stadium.

Instead of the modern stadium at the newly built Tampines Hub worth S$500 million, the team's opponents will be playing at Jalan Besar Stadium for all matches in the 2018 AFC Cup. In Channel News Asia, a Tampines Rovers fan worried: "As Tampines fans, we want to see our team play the AFC Cup at our new home ground and not at Jalan Besar. It is about 1.5 km away from Tampines Hub, playing at Jalan Besar Stadium reduces our home advantage."

Is SLNA the team with the highest Tet bonus in V.League?

(Baonghean.vn) - Many football teams in V.League have not yet mentioned the 2018 Tet bonus. And perhaps the team with the highest Tet bonus is SLNA. It is known that the lowest bonus in this team is still 10 million VND for young players.