Written By: Kenneth Ho

Albirex Niigata (S) eased past Svay Rieng FC 3-0 on Wednesday evening at Jalan Besar Stadium to join the likes of Balestier Khalsa in the quarter finals of the RHB Singapore Cup 2014.

Three unanswered goals were scored by the Japanese side as Kazuya Okazaki and Kazuki Sakamoto gave Albirex a two-goal lead in the first half, before Kazuya Fukuzaki added another in the other half.

Okazaki opened the scoring in the ninth minute as his seemingly innocuous free kick from the right was allowed to bounce into goal with Svay Rieng custodian Sophea Sar rooted to the ground.

Sakamoto then doubled his side’s advantage due to a mistake by Sophea in the 37th minute.

Sophea had sloppily passed the ball out to Okazaki and the midfielder instantly pounced onto the mis-pass before crossing for Sakamoto to have an easy tap in from close range.

The scoring was completed in the 62nd minute when Fukuzaki drilled a first-time effort from distance into the bottom corner to give Albirex a comfortable lead they never looked like relinquishing.

The scoreline was a fair indication of the domination enjoyed by Albirex, and it could have been more had the Japanese side been more ruthless in front of goal.

Right from the first minute, the Svay Rieng goalkeeper was forced to make saves after saves as Sakamoto and company created many opportunities.

Sophea pulled off the best save of the game in the 35th minute when he flexed backwards to claw away a Kento Nagasaki volley which was heading for the top corner.

Ikuma Osaka could have grabbed a fourth for his side after coming off the bench, but after doing superbly well to skip past a challenge he drove an effort onto the post.

While the Cambodian team was fairly quiet in the first half, they did come back into the game in the second half and came close to pulling a goal back on several occasions with Dzarma Debiro leading the line.

Right after the restart, Dzarma just failed to connect with teammate Sothearoth Nen’s freekick at the back post.

The striker then contrived to put the ball over the bar after doing supremely well to beat two players and set himself up for a shot in the box in the 66th minute.

That miss summed up the dismal evening the invited guests of the tournament endured, as they suffered an early exit in the Singapore Cup.