Mighty Eagles take down the White Swans

The Eagles started their Singapore Cup campaign in stunning fashion when they defeated Albirex Niigata 2-1 at the Jurong East Stadium on Friday evening.

The Eagles showed their intent as early as the first minute when Iqbal Hussain’s effort from a Naufal Azman’s cross was cleared off the line. But it was not until the stroke of half-time that Yushi Yamaya’s solo sprint from the middle of the pitch saw the Japanese fire a low shot past Hassan Sunny to break the deadlock.

Barely five minutes after the restart, the Eagles doubled their advantage when a precise pass from Iqbal found Naufal who made no mistake in slotting the ball into the back of the net.

Albirex got themselves a lifeline when Shunsaku Kishimoto rose above the Eagles’ defence to head in the ball after another header into the box by Tadanari Lee in the 74th minute.

However, the Eagles held on right until the final whistle to seal a memorable away victory. 

Head Coach Noor Ali said: “The boys were brilliant throughout the game. We still have three games to play and it is still open. We will take one game at a time. It’s going to be another tough game against Brunei DPMM next. But what’s most important for us now is to recover, regroup and then plan our strategy against them.”

Man of the match, Naufal, meanwhile, added: “We played our hearts out tonight and we put in our 110%. Albirex is a quality side. So, beating them and getting the three points were very important to us.”

Ends.