Kaishu Yamazaki of Hougang United battles Kodai Tanaka of Albirex Niigata (S), 5 August 2022

 

SINGAPORE, 11 AUGUST 2022 – The AIA Singapore Premier League (SPL) title race swung back the way of the Lion City Sailors as they thrashed Balestier Khalsa, while nearest challengers Albirex Niigata (S) dropped two points against Hougang United before responding with an emphatic win over Young Lions in midweek to remain within touching distance. It was a swift return to ground for the Young Lions, who had been on a high after ending a 10-match win-less streak against Tanjong Pagar United. We recap all the action below…

 

White Swans held
Hougang 3-3 Albirex | Hougang | 5 August
Pedro Bortoluzo 62′, 73′, Shawal Anuar 85′ | Masahiro Sugita 12′, Tadanari Lee 76′, Masaya Idetsu 89′

 

Sugita pounced on Aizil Yazid’s error to put Albirex ahead, but Bortoluzo glanced in Kristijan Krajček’s inswinging corner before applying the finishing touch to a great team move and put Hougang in the driving seat. Lee then came off the bench to knock in Kodai Tanaka’s flick-on to restore parity, but the home side went back ahead when Shawal rounded Takahiro Koga before slotting home. There was to be one last twist in the tale courtesy of Idetsu, whose jaw-dropping free-kick ensured the White Swans claimed a share of the spoils.

 

Facts

• Albirex dropped points for only the second time in 11 matches.
• Sugita has scored in all three appearances against Hougang this season – three of his seven SPL goals have come against the Cheetahs.
• Bortoluzo has scored seven times in his last five league appearances; he is on 10 SPL goals for 2022.
• Shawal has five goals and three assists in his last seven matches.
• Lee has come off the bench to score in each of the past two matches.
• Four of Krajček’s five assists this season have been for Bortoluzo.

Hougang: Aizil Yazid (GK), Nazrul Nazari (C), Anders Aplin, Lionel Tan, Jordan Vestering (Muhaimin Suhaimi 46’), Kaishu Yamazaki (Shahfiq Ghani 85’), Kristijan Krajček, Shawal Anuar, Sahil Suhaimi (Farhan Zulkifli 85’), Amy Recha (Shahril Ishak 90’+3), Pedro Bortoluzo.
Unused subs: Mukundan Maran (GK), Faiz Salleh, Nazhiim Harman, Amir Zalani, Ajay Robson.

Albirex: Takahiro Koga (GK), Jun Kobayashi (C), Reo Kunimoto, Keito Hariya, Daichi Omori, Masaya Idetsu, Kumpei Kakuta, Kan Kobayashi, Masahiro Sugita (Kanato Fukazawa 86’), Zamani Zamri (Tadanari Lee 63’), Kodai Tanaka.
Unused subs: Kai Yamamoto (GK), Tatsuya Sambongi, Mahiro Takahashi, Tsubasa Kawanishi, Nicky Melvin Singh, Fairoz Hasan, Yoshiki Matsuura.

 

Sailors back on winning track
Sailors 4-0 Balestier | Jalan Besar | 6 August
Kim Shin-wook pen. 5′, Maxime Lestienne 70′, Saifullah Akbar 72′, Song Uiyoung 77′

 

After an early Kim penalty conversion, the Sailors had to stay patient before scoring three times in seven second-half minutes. Lestienne benefitted from Faris Ramli’s pass to curl home a second, before Saifullah raced onto Diego Lopes’ square ball to complete a great team move. Song then got in on the act to finish off Lestienne’s teasing low ball for the final flourish.

 

Facts

• Sailors have put 14 goals past Balestier over three encounters this season.
• Lestienne scored and assisted in the same match for a sixth time this season – a league-best tally.
• Saifullah scored his first SPL goal since August 2021 in the Sailors’ 4-1 win over Tampines Rovers.
• Saifullah is the 14th player and seventh substitute to score for the Sailors this season – both the most by any team in the league.
• Song has now scored in each of his last four appearances against Balestier.
• Song scored his 50^th SPL goal.
• Izwan Mahbud kept his first clean sheet for the Sailors on his fourth appearance with the club – it was also his first shutout since August 2021 in Hougang’s 1-0 win over Young Lions.

Sailors: Izwan Mahbud (GK), Nur Adam Abdullah, Amirul Adli (C), Pedro Henrique, Iqram Rifqi (Faris Ramli 69’), Adam Swandi, Diego Lopes, Gabriel Quak (Hafiz Nor 69’), Song Uiyoung (Amiruldin Asraf 82’), Maxime Lestienne (Bill Mamadou 90’+1), Kim Shin-wook (Saifullah Akbar 69’).
Unused subs: Adib Nur Hakim (GK), Hassan Sunny (GK), Naqiuddin Eunos, Glenn Ong.

Balestier: Hairul Syirhan (GK), Aarish Kumar (Aidil Johari 25’), Madhu Mohana, Amer Hakeem, Darren Teh, Ensar Brunčević, Ho Wai Loon (Naufal Azman 75’), Ryoya Taniguchi, Kuraba Kondo (Ryan Praveen 90’+2), Ignatius Ang (Delwinder Singh 25’), Shuhei Hoshino (C).
Unused subs: Suffian Abdullah (GK), Ammirul Emmran, Asshukrie Wahid, Puvan Raj, Aqil Yazid.

 

Zikos makes history
Young Lions 4-2 Tanjong Pagar | Jalan Besar | 7 August
Zikos Chua 22′, 30′, 45′, 53′ | Khairul Amri 36′, Reo Nishiguchi 70′

 

The Young Lions took advantage of Akram Azman’s early dismissal to go two up by the half-hour mark, with Chua producing two clinical finishes off crosses from Raoul Suhaimi and Glenn Kweh. Amri pulled one back for Tanjong Pagar through an emphatic volley, but Chua benefitted from another Raoul pass to complete his hat-trick before adding a fourth via his left foot to cap off a memorable evening. Nishiguchi did pull one back through but it was too little, too late for the Jaguars.

 

Facts

• The Young Lions won for the first time in 11 matches.
• Chua doubled his goal tally for the season in just 53 minutes; he had scored four goals in nine league starts prior to this game.
• Chua is the youngest-ever player to score four goals in a match in SPL history at 20 years and 115 days – and the first ever Young Lions player to do so.
• Chua is the first player to score at least three times for the Young Lions in a match since July 2007, when Amri netted a hat-trick in a 4-1 win over Sengkang Punggol.
• Chua is also the first player to score a first-half hat-trick since September 2021 when Tomoyuki Doi did in Hougang’s 7-3 win over Tampines.
• Raoul is the youngest-ever player to make at least two assists in a match in SPL history, at 16 years and 323 days – all three of his assists this season have been for Chua.
• Kweh is the first Young Lions player to make at least four assists in a season since Joshua Pereira tallied the same amount in 2018.

Young Lions: Ridhwan Fikri (GK) (C), Raoul Suhaimi (Danial Crichton 72’), Syed Akmal, Jordan Emaviwe, Danish Qayyum (Arshad Shamim 67’), Harhys Stewart, Joel Chew (Khairin Nadim 77’), Jared Gallagher, Elijah Lim, Glenn Kweh, Zikos Chua.
Unused subs: Dylan Pereira (GK), Syabil Hisham, Abdul Rasaq, Irfan Iskandar, Ryu Hardy, Moritz Faizal Radewaldt.

Tanjong Pagar: Zharfan Rohaizad (GK), Faritz Hameed (C), Shahrin Saberin (Daniel Bennett 64’), Raihan Rahman, Akram Azman, Shodai Nishikawa, Rusyaidi Salime (Emmeric Ong 73’), Fathullah Rahmat (Khairul Nizam 46’), Blake Ricciuto, Khairul Amri (Faizal Raffi 64’), Reo Nishiguchi.
Unused subs: Veer Karan Sobti (GK), Fashah Iskandar (GK), Syukri Bashir, Aqhari Abdullah, Naufal Ilham.

Red Card: Akram Azman (Tanjong Pagar) 19’

 

White Swans produce ruthless response
Albirex 7-1 Young Lions | Jurong East | 10 August
Kodai Tanaka 21′, 31′, 65′, Masahiro Sugita 23′, Ilhan Fandi 35′, Harhys Stewart O.G. 59′, Kumpei Kakuta 88′ | Reo Kunimoto O.G. 90’+1

 

Tanaka nodded home Masaya Idetsu’s corner to put Albirex ahead before Sugita took advantage of some untidy Young Lions defending to double the lead. Tanaka then grabbed a second on the rebound while Ilhan joined in the act with a header off another excellent Idetsu cross as the White Swans led by four at the break. Stewart then put through his own goal, before Tanaka completed his hat-trick from close range and Kakuta slammed home a terrific volley thereafter for Albirex’s seventh. The away side grabbed a consolation through Kunimoto’s own goal to put a blemish on the night for the Swans.

 

Facts

• Albirex have put 17 goals past Young Lions over three encounters this season.
• Albirex have now won their last 20 encounters against Young Lions.
• Young Lions conceded for a 53rd straight SPL outing.
• The last game to have an own goal from each side was between Tampines and Sailors on 21 September 2021; that ended 6-1 to the latter.
• Albirex have scored from eight corner-kick situations this season – the most in the league.
• Albirex have received three own goals – the most in the league.
• Albirex have conceded four times after the 90th minute – the most in the league.
• Tanaka is the first Albirex player to hit the 20-goal mark since Tsubasa Sano did in 2017.
• Tanaka is the first player to score three hat-tricks (including scoring four in one match) in a season since Kiyoshiro Tsuboi did for Albirex in 2021.
• Tanaka is now tied with Tampines’ Boris Kopitović on 22 goals at the top of the scoring charts.
• Idetsu’s two assists brings him up to 14 – the most in the league, one more than Sailors’ Lestienne. Five out of the 14 have come from corners.
• Young Lions’ Moritz Faizal Radewaldt made his professional debut.

Albirex: Takahiro Koga (GK), Jun Kobayashi (C) (Mahiro Takahashi 85’), Reo Kunimoto, Keito Hariya, Daichi Omori, Masaya Idetsu, Kumpei Kakuta, Kan Kobayashi (Tatsuya Sambongi 46’), Masahiro Sugita (Nicky Melvin Singh 64’), Ilhan Fandi (Tadanari Lee 64’), Kodai Tanaka (Kanato Fukazawa 69’).
Unused subs: Kai Yamamoto (GK), Tsubasa Kawanishi, Zamani Zamri, Yoshiki Matsuura.

Young Lions: Ridhwan Fikri (GK) (C), Danial Crichton (Moritz Faizal Radewaldt 64’), Syed Akmal (Syabil Hisham 72’), Syahrul Sazali, Danish Qayyum, Harhys Stewart, Joel Chew (Amir Syafiz 64’), Shah Shahiran, Jared Gallagher, Glenn Kweh (Abdul Rasaq 72’), Zikos Chua (Irfan Iskandar 87’).
Unused subs: Dylan Pereira (GK), Khairin Nadim, Ryu Hardy.

 

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