Tampines Rovers travel to Malaysia to take on Causeway rivals Felda United in their penultimate Group G clash of 2017 AFC Cup at Tun Abdul Razak Stadium on Wednesday.
The Stags are heading into the clash in a must-win situation as they are sitting at the bottom of the group table with three points from four games, five behind leaders Hanoi and two behind second-placed Felda [only the group winner and best-placed runner-up from three Asean group progress to next round].
After opening their campaign with a 2-1 win at home over the Malaysian Super League team, Tampines have gone on to lose three matches on the trot, during which they conceded 11 goals as well.
On the other hand, Felda defeated Ceres Negros 3-0 in their last match in the competition on 4 April, but have been winless since then.
The S.League giants have suffered a big blow ahead of the crucial tie as skipper Madhu Mohana is out with a hamstring injury. However, the return of striker Khairul Amri, who struck the winner against Felda in the earlier leg, will boost the team's confidence.
A lot will depend on Daniel Bennett and Mustafic Fahrudin in the absence of Madhu to keep Felda strikers at bay. However, the backline can take comfort from the fact that B Satianathan's men have scored only 10 goals in their last 10 league games.
Meanwhile, a lot of focus will be on Stags' midfielders Son Yong Chan and Ryutaro Megumi as the in-form duo will look to make a big impact in tomorrow's tie. Tampines will be confident of their 4-0 league win over Geylang International on 8 April and a 11-day-break since then has helped the prepare well. It is now upto to them to put another one across the misfiring Felda and keep their chances of progressing past the group stages alive.
Team News
Felda
Possible XI: Farizal; Aizulridzwan, Norfazly, Zaidi, Afiq; Idlan, James, Syahid, Krangar, Hadin; Cellerino
Tampines
Possible XI: Mahbud; Hamsaz, Bennett, Mustafic, Taha; Sandhu, Sulaiman, Son, Megumi; Hanapi, Dzoni
