| Fadhil Yunus |
DPMM FC will need to find a way to get past Albirex Niigata (S) shot-stopper Yosuke Nozawa who has been in sublime form when the two sides meet in the S League at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium tonight.
DPMM FC head coach Steve Kean has labelled Nozawa, who made two wonderful saves to deny Adi Said, as the best goalkeeper in the league after his exploits during the final.
He added that the opposition goalkeeper was the main reason in the 2-0 final defeat less than a week ago.
“I would say that to win this match we need, in my opinion, to beat the best goalkeeper in the league,” said Kean in an interview with the media after a training session at the Jerudong Mini Stadium yesterday.
“I think he’s exceptional and I think he was the main reason why they beat us last game”.
“If you put virtually any other goalkeeper in the goal, I think Adi’s goal was in. He’s an exceptional goalkeeper and he’s a big reason why they’ve done well this year”, he further added.
The head coach noted that his charges have performed well in the final with the individual brilliance of the goalkeeper the main difference.
“I thought we’ve played well and we’ve probably had the best chances in the game. The difference is the goalkeeper made good saves. It’s only the details and obviously the finishing and their finishing was very ruthless.”
A player dribbling during practice yesterday. – FADHIL YUNUS
“We never managed to finish the chances that we did have which was more than them,” he continued.
Kean heaped praise on Albirex who are physically good, possess good players all over the pitch and does not need too many invitations in front of goal evident by their ruthlessness against Tampines Rovers FC recently.
DPMM FC’s midfielder Hendra Azam will start in place of the suspended Paulo Sergio while Maududi Hilmi Kasmi will leave central midfield and push wide on the right.
Kean has been pleased with Maududi’s displays adding that he deserved to stay in the starting line-up.
The league leaders’ boast quality all over the pitch with the likes of Atsushi Kawata and Tatsuro Inui causing a multitude of problems for the reigning holders in the final.
The Gegar Gegar men would need to prevent Kawata from getting time on the ball while Azwan Salleh has been tasked with keeping Inui quiet.
“I think what we need to do is be more aggressive and don’t let him have two or three touches.
“I think as soon as he gets his first touch we need to be right on top of him because if you don’t he’s got the ability to manipulate the ball and when he turns, he starts running at you,” he said.
“He’s too strong and technically he’s too good so you actually need to engage him on his second touch and at times we were a little bit too loose in the marking with him and give too much space”.
“Especially the back three has to be much aggressive with him”, the head coach explained.
Azwan Salleh has been given the responsibility to nullify the threat of Inui who creates spark in Albirex’s attacking ambitions.
“Param (Azwan Salleh) is going to play very tight on him. Basically if he picks his head up he can play any pass there is. He can play a pass with back spin, he can switch it and he can drop it behind the defence”.
“So Param is going to have that job of being really tight on him and making sure he does not really get into that rhythm where he is the dictator of their play”, he added.
“Once they had the spell early in the second half when they’ve got on the ball then he’s the one that dictates the rhythm of the team”.
The club have been working on crossing further up the pitch in the last 10 metres of the pitch and feed striker Rafael Ramazotti after seeing his side managing to provide the crosses 4 or 5 metres over the halfway line.
“On the attacking side, the crosses that we put in would be more from a final third position that give Rafa something. If we get the ball between their centre-backs and full backs, Dudi (Maududi) got the ability to get on it and cut across people”, he concluded.
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