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Tampines back and ready to roll
Sazali Abdul Aziz
info@sleague.com
Akihiro Nakamura feinted, twisted, and then delicately nutmegged his pursuer. His Tampines Rovers teammates howled in laughter as the Japanese midfielder taunted the victim of his nifty little bit of skill – club sports trainer Jeffrey Tham.
Tham, with his trademark white hair and goatee, proceeded to take off his shirt as a ‘punishment’ while the players – from veteran Zulkarnaen Zainal to newcomers Ismadi Mukhtar and Jamil Ali – poked fun at him.
The keep-ball warm-up before Tampines’ first training session of their pre-season was relaxed, but the Stags have hardly been taking their pre-season programme lightly.
Barely two weeks since their last league game on 30 October, the team had begun gathering three times a week to work on their fitness, in particular to prepare for the league’s mandatory Beep Test.
“We cannot take the chance of letting the players go on a long holiday and not keep an eye on them,” said head coach Vorawan Chitavanich. “The beep test will kill the players.”
The drive to do well in the coming season is obvious. It has been three years since the club won any piece of silverware – the 2006 Singapore Cup – and four since they last hoisted the league title.
They have acted swiftly in the transfer market. Aside from siphoning wingers Ismadi and Jamil from Woodlands Wellington, the club have also signed experienced leftback Zahid Ahmad from Sengkang Punggol.
The marquee signing of the club this close season though has to be the capture of three-time defending league top-scorer Aleksandar Duric from SAFFC on a one-year contract.
The 39-year-old, having been released by an SAFFC side who are stocking up on younger talent, says he picked Tampines despite having “a couple from offers from other Indonesian teams”.
“After what happened with Sriwijaya, I did not want to talk to their teams anymore,” explained Duric, who saw a move to the Palembang team break down because of personal terms. “I had a good talk with Tampines, and they have a good team, so I decided to join them.”
It would seem that Duric’s arrival at Tampines represents the perfect tonic for the club, since former star target-man Noh Alam Shah left for Persija Jakarta in September. Vorawan notes that the two have different styles, but reckons he does not have to implement a radical change to the present Tampines playing system.
“Duric’s style of play is focused more towards technique, while Alam Shah is more physical, more aggressive. Maybe I will try (the pairing of) Khairul Amri and Duric, because they play in the national team together and the communication and understanding is good,” he pondered, admitting that he has not decided on his first-choice forward line for the new season yet.
While his attacking options are loaded and ready, the Thai is less sure about his defenders, with Shariff Abdul Samat leaving the club upon the expiry of his contract. Shariff, once on the fringes of the Singapore national team, has agreed a move to Home United but is still training with Tampines for the time being to maintain his fitness.
Vorawan says that the club is talking to a Young Lions defender – believed to be Shahir Hamzah – but does not envision too many potential problems at the back next season.
“If we play four defenders, Seiji (Kaneko) and Ben (Benoit Croissant) will play in the centre,” he explained. “If we play with three, Ben can play as the sweeper.”
Vorawan was relieved that the club managed to hold on to their two defensive assets, especially after it seemed the pair would move on in the close season. Japanese defender Kaneko – one of the more outstanding players of 2009 – was said to be seeking a move to Europe, while Frenchman Croissant, also strongly rumoured to be leaving, has signed on for another year.
Kaneko, Croissant and Nakamura will take up three of the four foreign spots available on the club’s S.League roster next season. The fourth – vacated by Thai attacking midfielder Sutee Suksomkit when he signed on with Australian side Melbourne Victory as a guest player in September – will remain open for now.
“We will wait for Sutee,” said Vorawan, who says that the 31-year-old has agreed to return to the Stags if Melbourne decide not to extend his deal.
It was thought that Sutee was favouring a return to his homeland if his Melbourne move does not work out, but Vorawan explained: “I have spoken to him, and he has agreed that if Melbourne does not extend his deal, he will come back to Tampines.”
With all the changes that have been taking place with the Stags’ playing staff though, perhaps the most important figure retained is of the coach himself. The 48-year-old was at the helm when Tampines won back-to-back league titles in 2004 and 2005, and he has the know-how to steer the club back to glory.
However, with the club having gone through such a long period without silverware, a question mark hung over the future of the former Thailand international at the end of last season. With him in the hotseat, Tampines can hope to mount a real challenge to SAFFC’s supremacy in the league.
For now, though, it’s all about getting the players’ fitness back up to face the ‘killer’.
And judging by Monday’s training session, the Stags are fit and ready to roll. |
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