Disadvantaged Eagles enters second leg without Yasir

By Janet Chia

(original submission to voxsports)

The first leg of RHB Singapore Cup’s quarter-finals between Geylang International FC and Home United FC kicked off on 23^rd July at 8pm in Bedok Stadium.

After a two match ban, Jozef Kaplan made his return to the pitch and paired up with Stefan Milojevic to pave the way for Eagles. Both teams went on full aggression right from the start of game, however, first half saw Protectors with higher ball possession and Eagles putting in more effort to defend. 

The  first attempt at goal came from Protectors at the 5^th minute which was narrowly caught by Takuma Ito.  

While Protectors played a pressing game, Yasir Hanapi managed to threaten Protector’s goalkeeper, Shahril Jantan , with a volley that narrowly missed the goal and dipped over the bar at the 29^th minute.

With just one minute left on the clock to half time, Protectors gave no chance at all to the home team as Ismail yunos delivered a cross which hit the bar, sending the rebound to Jordon Webb. This caused a scramble in the box and Hafiz Rahim quickly closed in and scored the opening goal of the match.

With one minute added time, the first half concluded with Protectors leading with 0-1.

The second half saw Protectors did well with their strategy of playing pressing game. The short passes gave no chance for Eagles on the ball for long.

At the 56^th minute, Protector’s coach decided to substitute Lee Kwan Woo for Masrezwan Masturi, and looked set to extend the lead with a fresh player on pitch. Protectors managed to widen their lead to 2-0 when Firdaus Idros connected with Masrezwan’s cross and sent the ball straight into the net at 59^th minute.

While the Eagles played hard in the second half, however, Yasir was sent off after receiving his second yellow card at 75^th minute.

Protectors held on to their lead and the score stood at 0-2 at full time. Eagles will thus enter the second leg with  2 goals down.  With Fabian Kwok and Delwinder Singh out of action coupled with Yasir’s two match ban, Eagles’ coach Kanan expressed the difficulties of  training his players within the five days from next match against Protectors, however he believed that there is still a real chance for them in the second leg.

The second leg of this match will be held on 29^th July, 8pm at Bishan stadium.