Stags confident of top three finish

As the new S-league season kicks off on Monday, Tampines Rovers coach Vorawan Chitavanich, who has won the s-league twice with the club, is confident of his team finishing in the top three despite losing a few big names, namely Noh Alam Shah, Fahrudin Mustafic and Sutee Suksomkit to transfers.

Having signed five new players in Jamil Ali, Ismadi Mukhtar, Zahid Ahmad, Jufri Taha and last season’s top scorer, Aleksander Duric, Vorawan dismissed talks of problems regarding the depth and quality of his squad, choosing to concentrate on teamwork rather than the individual skill of his players.

“In terms of teamwork, I think the team we have this season is better than last season” said Vorawan, who is also looking to enter the finals of the Singapore Cup, after failing to achieve this feat since losing to Singapore Armed Forces in the 2007 final.

Vorawan responded defensively about the quality of his current squad, averring that “we do not depend on one man; we have 33 fit players in our squad” when asked if Tampines would be depending on Aleksander Duric to deliver, being the only big name signing the club has made.

When asked if his side will be able to pip SAFFC to the title, the former Thai international quipped; “Every year I’m asked the same question. Every year it’s the same. It depends on who performs well and who has the least injuries. It depends on luck too.”

However, unfortunately for the Stags, lady luck doesn’t seem to be on their side, having lost forward Khairul Amri to injury even before the first ball has been played on the pitch.

Other than the five local players that have been signed by the club, the Stags are also looking to sign former Korean international Park Yo-Seb, who has been capped 6 times from 2002 to 2005, as a direct replacement for Fahrudin Mustafic who now plays for Indonesian side Persija Jakarta. 29 year old Park who joined from Korean National League side, Gangneun FC will join the former champions pending a medical and the mandatory beep test.


Former Korean International Park Yo-Seb


New signing Jufri Taha

Tampines Roves 2010

1. Hassan Sunny
2. Satria Mad
3. Edward Tan
4. Zulkarnean Zainal
5. Imran Sahib
6. Alimin Mohamed
7. Fathi Yunus
8. Kaneko Seiji
9. Benoit Croissant
10. Qiu Li
11. Akihiro Nakamura
12. Shukor Zailan
13. Aliff Shafaein
14. Khairul Amri

New Signings
15. Ismadi Mukhtar
16. Zahid Ahmad
17. Jamil Ali
18. Aleksandar Duric
19. Jufri Taha
20. Park Yo Seb (Pending Medical)