Warriors FC vs Courts Young Lions

(August 20, Wednesday, 7.30pm, Choa Chu Kang Stadium)

Written by: Phoon Jia Hui

Warriors FC will be looking to keep their title hopes alive when they host the Courts Young Lions at Choa Chu Kang Stadium on Wednesday evening in the Great Eastern Yeo’s S.League.

The home side sit in fifth, five points off leaders Brunei DPMM with two games remaining before the table splits into two. While they are guaranteed of a top-half finish, they will want to finish as high as they can and hopefully bring home the title come end of the season.

It will their first competitive fixture in almost three weeks, although some of the players from both teams were involved in the friendly game against Juventus at the rebuilt National Stadium over the weekend.

For the Warriors, it was goalkeeper Hassan Sunny and attacking duo Miroslav Pejic and Nicholas Velez while skipper Al-Qaasimy Rahman, hotshot Sahil Suhaimi and Iqbal Hussain represented the Young Lions.

However, Warriors have not been enjoying the best of games of late as they have suffered three consecutive losses in all competitions.

Their last outing saw Alex Weaver’s side fall to a 3-1 defeat at the beginning of the month and as such, they will be eager to bounce back from that disappointment and return to winning ways.

On the other hand, the Young Lions have posted some commendable results season-long, with most of the squad just back recently from a successful training stint in Austria.

With Warriors in the doldrum, the visitors might have the belief to cause an upset. As always, Sahil is expected to lead the line for Young Lions, and the starlet has been scoring goals on a consistent basis for the developmental side.

The likes of Jordan Webb and Sherif El-Masri can also be called upon if needed while Al-Qaasimy and his fellow defenders will have to keep things tight at the back to stop the Pejic-Velez partnership.

Both teams met earlier in April this year and that match ended in a 3-2 win in favour of the Warriors.

The Warriors will however have to make do without Marin Vidosevic as the defender serves a one-match suspension after picking up his fourth yellow card of the campaign against Albirex. Despite that, they should have enough in them to see off the challenge of the Young Lions.

Suspension: Marin Vidosevic (Warriors FC).

Key Men To Watch

Warriors FC: Hassan Sunny

He has proven time and again why he is still regarded as the nation’s top goalkeeper despite his injury troubles in the past.

Not only does he have a commanding presence between the sticks, he complements it with his agility and reflexes which gives him an edge over the other players

His superb performance against Juventus recently has also earned praise from players from the Italian giants, namely forwards Fernando Llorente and Sebastian Giovinco.

Courts Young Lions: Sahil Suhaimi

The 22-year-old will be the man to watch for the Young Lions as he seeks to try find a way to breach the Warriors backline.

Sahil possesses immaculate dribbling ability and is a technically superior player on and off the ball. The diminutive forward is also known for his goalscoring exploits, and is the developmental side’s top scorer with seven goals so far.

Warriors FC – LLLWW

1/8/14      Warriors FC 1-3 Albirex Niigata (S)

18/7/14    Tanjong Pagar United (AET) 1-0 Warriors FC (StarHub League Cup QF)

15/7/14    Warriors FC 0-4 Geylang International (StarHub League Cup Group B)

12/7/14    Tampines Rovers 2-3 Warriors FC (StarHub League Cup Group B)

23/6/14    Warriors FC 4-1 Tanjong Pagar United

Courts Young Lions – DWLLL

3/8/14      Courts Young Lions 0-0 Harimau Muda

1/7/14      Woodlands Wellington 1-3 Courts Young Lions

22/6/14    Albirex Niigata (S) 4-2 Courts Young Lions

18/6/14    Courts Young Lions 2-3 Brunei DPMM

12/6/14    Tanjong Pagar United 3-0 Courts Young Lions

Head to Head (S.League)

24/4/14    Courts Young Lions 2-3 Warriors FC

31/10/13  Courts Young Lions 2-1 Warriors FC

20/7/13    Courts Young Lions 0-0 Warriors FC

28/3/13    Warriors FC 3-0 Courts Young Lions

22/7/12    Courts Young Lions 2-1 Warriors FC

16/3/12    Warriors FC 4-3 Courts Young Lions

25/10/11  Warriors FC 3-0 Courts Young Lions

7/8/11       Warriors FC 3-0 Courts Young Lions

12/2/11    Courts Young Lions 0-2 Warriors FC