The beauty of the Cup competition lives on in the RHB Singapore Cup as the "Final Four" - Etoile FC, Home United, Albirex Niigata (Singapore) and Hougang United fought till the very end to see the emerging of the Protectors and the White Swans for the 19th November date at JBS.
In both first leg fixtures of the "Final Four" saw both the Stars and White Swans agonizingly forgo their lead in the dying moments of those matches to see their respective opponents - Home United and Hougang United crawled back to level terms to square off the encounter.
Incidentally, at one stage such a fightback was seen impossible until the dying moments of the match had distinguished the different approach of that of a knock-out cup tournament and round-robin league format fixtures.
Mendy propelled HU at expenses of old bosses
Yet, it wasn't really a nail-bitter when both Etoile and Home Utd met for their recurring fixture at Queenstown Stadium two days later with one tweet suggested it was a "boring" first half at Stirling Road.
Nonetheless, "Liga Singapura" offered a different perspective when he tweeted:"Its definitely far from a boring game, if you look at it from a tactical point of view. See this going 0-0 all the way and then PKs."
Things, however, did not go according to script as suggested by the leading blogger when last season's leading top scorer Frederic Mendy stabbed home the only goal in 55th minute to send Lee Lim Saeng's men to their first bid for the Cup in 6 years.
I should have QUIT to be at Hougang
I wouldn't mind give 24hrs notice to tender my quit notice in order to be at Hougang Stadium the following night.
Despite not being at the ground, I could still feel the heart pounding as I follow the #sgcup to keep track of the scores of the other tie between Hougang and Albirex.
What a game it was with Albirex beat the Cheetahs 5-4 agg to head to their 2nd Cup finals in weeks!!
Better marketing reckon in spite of F1
Sad to note that the timing of the semi-final matches collided with the Singapore Grand Prix that those keenly-contested battles were fought in front of disappointing crowds (hardly a pretty sight when these games were live-telecasted on cable).
Some may fault the lack of media coverage, although better marketing would have been done by organizers in hype up during the series.
After all, those at the four games were hardly disappointed by what they saw.
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| Fred Mendy (pictured above right) scored against his old team to send HUFC to the final |
Incidentally, at one stage such a fightback was seen impossible until the dying moments of the match had distinguished the different approach of that of a knock-out cup tournament and round-robin league format fixtures.
Mendy propelled HU at expenses of old bosses
Yet, it wasn't really a nail-bitter when both Etoile and Home Utd met for their recurring fixture at Queenstown Stadium two days later with one tweet suggested it was a "boring" first half at Stirling Road.
Nonetheless, "Liga Singapura" offered a different perspective when he tweeted:"Its definitely far from a boring game, if you look at it from a tactical point of view. See this going 0-0 all the way and then PKs."
Things, however, did not go according to script as suggested by the leading blogger when last season's leading top scorer Frederic Mendy stabbed home the only goal in 55th minute to send Lee Lim Saeng's men to their first bid for the Cup in 6 years.
I should have QUIT to be at Hougang
I wouldn't mind give 24hrs notice to tender my quit notice in order to be at Hougang Stadium the following night.
Despite not being at the ground, I could still feel the heart pounding as I follow the #sgcup to keep track of the scores of the other tie between Hougang and Albirex.
What a game it was with Albirex beat the Cheetahs 5-4 agg to head to their 2nd Cup finals in weeks!!
 |
| After left his mark as a player, Hougang's coach Aide Iskandar has the potential to excel as a coach for what he done for the Cheetahs so far |
Sad to note that the timing of the semi-final matches collided with the Singapore Grand Prix that those keenly-contested battles were fought in front of disappointing crowds (hardly a pretty sight when these games were live-telecasted on cable).
 |
| Match snap of Hougang-Albirex's match courtesy of Gale Gan |
After all, those at the four games were hardly disappointed by what they saw.
I agree that both matches are entertaining as I've managed to watched a few minutes of both games. I'm really impressed by what Albirex and Hougang have achieved this year. However the lure of F1 is definitely bigger.
ReplyDeleteThe FAS and S-League will always have to fight for a bigger piece of the pie (local sports fans) against the international sporting events.