SINGAPORE PREMIER LEAGUE
Albirex Niigata 4
Geylang International 0
Stepping out in front of a 2,522-strong crowd at Jurong East Stadium for their Singapore Premier League (SPL) opener against Geylang International yesterday was nerve-racking for a young Albirex Niigata side.
But while the White Swans kept their cool, it was the Eagles who collapsed in the end as they had two players sent off to compound a 4-0 loss to the three-time Singapore champions.
Both sides did not create many chances in the opening 40 minutes of the game until a strike by Albirex's Reo Nishiguchi gave the Japanese team the lead.
Still, with everything to play for, Geylang coach Noor Ali threw on striker Iqbal Hussein in the second half to partner Fareez Farhan up front in an attempt to turn the game around.
But things quickly fell apart for the Eagles as Fareez was sent off for a head butt on Ryoya Taniguchi two minutes after the restart.
Albirex, who finished fourth last season and retained just four of their players after a trophy-less campaign - Hiroyoshi Kamata, Noor Akid Nordin, Hyrulnizam Juma'at and Zamani Zamri - from the previous campaign, made it 2-0 in the 52nd minute through Ryosuke Nagasawa.
Geylang's miserable time was compounded after Shahrin Saberin was dismissed in the 59th minute for using his hand to block an attempt on goal.
Tomoyuki Doi converted the resultant penalty to put Albirex 3-0 up, before Taniguchi sealed the dominant win in the 77th minute.
Albirex coach Keiji Shigetomi said: "This match was different from our warm-up matches in which did not have many spectators, so the players were definitely nervous playing this first match.
"We had a clean sheet and the defence held firm so that was good. But for the upcoming games, we need to improve our precision and be more clinical."
While Noor Ali praised the nine players who remained on the pitch for their resilience, he criticised Fareez and Shahrin for their ill discipline.
He said: "Playing against Albirex with 11 people is already tough and for us to have nine... we made it easy for them.
"I'm more disappointed with the boys losing their heads.
"It's frustrating that we had one player sent off two minutes into the second half because we were only 1-0 down."
Without injured players like Khairul Nizam, Harith Kanadi, Muhammad Noor Ariff, Nur Luqman Rahman and striker Amy Recha suspended, Noor Ali's options for yesterday's game were limited.
To make matters worse, defender Darren Teh was added to Geylang's list of injuries after twisting his ankle in the game.
While worried about the possibility of losing some of his key players, the Geylang coach hopes his team can put this setback behind them quickly.
They next face the Young Lions on Wednesday.
He said: "We need to forget about this game and move on, but it's good that it happened in the first game so players can learn from it."