S-League Preview Week 15
23rd June 2012 (Saturday)
Brunei DPMM v SAFFC
Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium, 8.15 pm
Having lost their last two games on Singapore soil, DPMM will be glad to return home to the intimidating Hassanal Bolkiah cauldron, where they have picked up maximum points from every league game bar the opening day 2-2 draw with Tampines.
They will face a SAFFC side reeling from coming off second best in a 4-3 thriller against Albirex Niigata, a game in which they led thrice only to lose to a last-gasp winner from the Japanese team.
DPMM are the league’s top-scorers and were perhaps a little unlucky to not have gotten a point against Tampines last time out where they lost 1-0 thanks to a late winner from Gligor Gligorov.
Adi Said ran his socks off but with little end product and it remains to be seen whether he can step into the role vacated by Rodrigo Grahl. Fellow forwards Basiru Osman and Shahrazen Said are full of pace and trickery as well with the trio certain to pose problems for a vulnerable SAFFC defence.
The Warriors certainly have no problems finding the back of the net themselves, with Mislav Karoglan carrying on his red-hot form from last season to show that it was not a fluke. With 24 goals overall for the team, they are one of the top-scoring sides in the league as well.
However, it is at the back where they need to improve. 23 goals conceded in thirteen games does not make for pretty reading; DPMM have only conceded 12 in the same number of matches. The new signing, Marin Vidosevic, looked pretty decent in his first outing against Albirex Niigata but will need to learn how to work better with Daniel Bennett.
Against the top scoring team, the Warriors must look for ways to be able to keep the goals out. Should they fail to do so, the chances of victory will unfortunately be slim.
DPMM last five games: LWWWL
SAFFC last five games: LWWWL
Prediction: SAFFC to lose this narrowly. 2-1