Courts Young Lions vs Harimau Muda

(August 3, Sunday, 7.30pm, Jalan Besar Stadium)

Written by: Phoon Jia Hui

Courts Young Lions will return to Great Eastern Yeo’s S.League action as they take on Harimau Muda at Jalan Besar Stadium.

A battle of the developmental teams in the league, the Young Tigers will be eager to put one over their counterparts from across the Causeway and lift themselves off the foot of the table.

Razip Ismail’s side currently find themselves at the bottom in a 12-team league, but a win here will see them go level on points with their opponents on Sunday evening.

Coach Aide Iskandar and 17 of his Young Lions players were recently in Austria with the national team and Under-23 for a training stint and they will definitely make use of that trip to good use against the Malaysians.

Al-Qaasimy Rahman will continue to lead the team from the back while Aide will look to 22-year-old Sahil Suhaimi for the goals with the starlet already netting seven times so far this season.

The Young Lions are winless in their last five matches and will hence be desperate for a victory here.

The two teams met earlier this season and that ended in a 3-2 victory in favour of the Young Lions in Pasir Gudang.

For Harimau Muda, their recent match was a 3-0 defeat to Malaysian Premier League outfit PDRM in a friendly match where Razip experimented with his squad and gave his second stringers a run out in that match.

Both teams will however have suspension woes to contend with.

Nurshamil Abd Ghani will sit out for the Under-21 side after being sent off in their last league match against Brunei DPMM while Young Lions’ Anumanthan Kumar picked up his fourth yellow of the campaign against Albirex Niigata (S) and will similarly miss out.

Suspensions: Anumanthan Kumar (Courts Young Lions); Nurshamil Abd Ghani (Harimau Muda).

Key Men To Watch

Courts Young Lions: Al-Qaasimy Rahman

An energetic and hardworking full-back, Al-Qaasimy’s overlapping runs will provide the Young Lions team with an extra attacking outlet going forward.

Against Albirex Niigata (S) where they fell 4-2, the Young Lions skipper had a 84% passing accuracy and also won 13 out of the 14 challenges he attempted. He will certainly hope to replicate that performance to try prevent their opponents from running riot.

Harimau Muda: Ramzi Sufian

With eight goals to his name, Ramzi Sufian is Harimau’s top scorer and the shining light in the side.

He will be depended on the goods once again and will definitely relish the chance to put a goal or two past the Young Lions as he seeks to add to his tally.

However, he is not just about the goals though as he can pass and bring his teammates into play. This was evidenced in their 4-1 loss to Brunei DPMM in their last league game where he successfully executed 81% of his passes.

Courts Young Lions – LLLDL

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

9/6/14     Courts Young Lions 0-0 Geylang International

23/5/14   Courts Young Lions 1-2 Tampines Rovers

Harimau Muda – LWLLL

22/6/14   Harimau Muda 1-4 Brunei DPMM

19/6/14   Geylang International 2-3 Harimau Muda

13/6/14   Harimau Muda 0-1 Tampines Rovers

10/6/14   Home United 3-1 Harimau Muda

5/6/14     Harimau Muda 2-4 Warriors FC

Head to Head (S.League)

20/4/14   Harimau Muda 2-3 Courts Young Lions

27/10/13 Harimau Muda 0-3 Courts Young Lions

1/8/13      Courts Young Lions 1-2 Harimau Muda

13/4/13    Harimau Muda 2-1 Courts Young Lions

19/7/12    Courts Young Lions 1-0 Harimau Muda

25/3/12    Harimau Muda 3-1 Courts Young Lions