The New Paper League Cup 2017 (Group B)

Tampines Rovers vs Geylang International

(11 July, Tuesday, 7.30pm, Jurong West Stadium)

Written by: Shawn Lim

Tampines Rovers will be looking to return to winning ways in The New Paper League Cup 2017 when they welcome Geylang International to Jurong West Stadium in a Group B match on Tuesday night.

The Stags gave a couple of Prime League players their debuts and fringe players run-outs against Brunei DPMM in their opening match and fell to a heavy 5-1 defeat, but head coach Jürgen Raab remains unfazed by the loss.

“I want to use League Cup to see all my players and see if they can make the step up to the first-team,” the German explained.

“I am not using this League Cup for my own glory because I want my key players to rest. I am using this chance to give other players, like the substitutes and the younger players a chance to know how they can improve.

“Winning is not the most important in every match, so my aim is to improve all the players that we have and focus on their development.”

Tampines will play Geylang two days after their last match but Raab has stressed that seeing an improvement from his team is key and a victory will be secondary.

“We do not have much time and we cannot train. We have recovery on Sunday and Monday will be the final training session,” he said.

“The most important thing is to talk to the team about what they did right and wrong so that we can improve for the next match.

“I hope that they can reduce their mistakes and get a good result against Geylang International. I am not expecting a victory, because the most important thing for me is to see improvement from my players.”

Geylang meanwhile, put out a near full-strength side in their 2-0 victory over Balestier Khalsa in their opening match as they went joint-top with DPMM, trailing only on goal difference.

However, Eagles head coach Noor Ali has hinted that he will give his fringe players and Prime League players a chance to prove themselves against the Stags.

The two teams met in the Great Eastern-Hyundai S.League at the end of last month at the same venue, with Ricardo Sendra cancelling out Fazrul Nawaz’s opener to share the spoils in a 1-1 draw

Tampines will not risk goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud who is still someway short of match fitness, while Imran Sahib is out injured for the foreseeable future. Both sides also have no suspension to worry about.

Tampines Rovers – WWWDL

08/07/17  Tampines Rovers 1-5 Brunei DPMM (The New Paper League Cup)

29/06/17  Tampines Rovers 1-1 Geylang International

22/06/17  Warriors FC 0-1 Tampines Rovers

17/06/17  Tampines Rovers 3-1 Balestier Khalsa

25/05/17  Hougang United 0-3 Tampines Rovers

Geylang International – LLDWW

08/07/17  Balestier Khalsa 0-2 Geylang International (The New Paper League Cup)

02/07/17  Geylang International 2-1 Garena Young Lions

29/06/17  Tampines Rovers 1-1 Geylang International

21/06/17  Geylang International 4-4 Global Cebu FC (PHI) (Global win 3-2 on penalties) (RHB Singapore Cup)

16/06/17  Geylang International 0-2 Warriors FC