Geylang International vs Brunei DPMM

(March 28, Friday, 7.30pm, Bedok Stadium)

Written by: Phoon Jia Hui

Brunei DPMM travel to the Bedok Stadium to take on a Geylang International side which clinched a long-awaited victory in the Great Eastern Yeo’s S.League in their last game.

Newly-appointed head coach Jorg Steinebrunner got off to a winning start as his team edged the Courts Young Lions 1-0 after three consecutive defeats. The German took over the reins from predecessor Vedhamuthu Kanan who has since been tasked to take charge of the club’s Prime League team.

While it took an own goal from Sheikh Abdul Hadi to hand the Eagles their first three points of the season, they did well in that match with goalkeeper Joey Sim and Japanese Kento Fukuda the stand-out performers from that game.

Against DPMM, Steinebrunner acknowledged the difficult task at hand but remained optimistic.

“It’s going to be a very difficult game against DPMM but in football, nothing is impossible if you put your heart and mind into it,” he said.

DPMM meanwhile suffered their first defeat of the season when they fell 2-1 to reigning champions Tampines Rovers at home on Sunday.

Despite taking an early lead through Roberto Alviz, they were undone by strikes from Miljan Mrdakovic who levelled things minutes after the break before Shahdan Sulaiman popped up with the winner at the death.

It was also the first time the Wasps have conceded this season as Tampines replaced them at the top of the table.

However, DPMM could count themselves unlucky to lose as skipper Rosmin Kamis and Roy O’Donovan saw the woodwork deny them twice in the space of two second-half minutes.

As such, this match promises to be a mouth-watering clash with DPMM eager to return to winning ways while Geylang will want to win this in front of their home fans.

Key Men To Watch

Geylang International: Kento Fukuda

Starting in only his first league game for Geylang this season after making the switch from Albirex Niigata (S), the Japanese defender was immense at the back when his side beat the Courts Young Lions in their last match.

Having let in a whopping nine goals prior to that win, Fukuda stabilised the ship with his excellent reading of the game and was brave in his challenges as he helped the Eagles to their first win and clean sheet of the season.

This was something sorely lacking as evident from their 3-0 defeat to Tampines where they only won 50% of their defensive challenges and index of challenges intensity was 6.72 as opposed to Tampines’ 8.39

Brunei DPMM: Rodrigo Tosi

The only foreigner retained from last season, Tosi has established himself as a mainstay in the DPMM side with his outstanding displays where he has forged a understanding with strike partner Roy O’Donovan.

The Brazilian has an eye for goal and has already scored three in four games to be the leading scorer for the Wasps. He also showed great awareness to set up Roberto Alviz for the opener in their defeat to Tampines in the last game.

Against Home United two matches ago, he had an InStat score of 111 and was third behind Roy O’Donovan (175) and Joe Gamble (145). The midfielder-cum-forward is also heavily involved in his team’s attacking play with his accurate passing as 78% of his attacking passes found its target.

Geylang International – WLLLD

20/3/14   Geylang International 1-0 Courts Young Lions

16/3/14   Tampines Rovers 3-0 Geylang International

1/3/14     Home United 4-1 Geylang International

23/2/14   Warriors 2-1 Geylang International

6/11/13   DPMM FC 2-2 Geylang International

Brunei DPMM – LWWWD

23/3/14    Brunei DPMM 1-2 Tampines Rovers

14/3/14    Home United 0-3 Brunei DPMM

28/2/14    Brunei DPMM 2-0 Warriors FC

22/2/14    Albirex Niigata (S) 0-1 Brunei DPMM

6/11/13    Brunei DPMM 2-2 Geylang International

Head to Head (S.League)

6/11/13     Brunei DPMM 2-2 Geylang International

19/7/13    Geylang International 0-1 Brunei DPMM

3/4/13       Brunei DPMM 4-2 Geylang International

21/7/12    Geylang International 1-3 Brunei DPMM

16/3/12    Brunei DPMM 4-1 Geylang International