Team Alpha the team to beat in Epson S’pore cup

Martin Harits and Co. stormed to a perfect record on the opening day of the inaugural Epson Singapore Cup yesterday to emerge as the early tournament favourites.

His side Team Alpha, comprising mostly students from Jurongville Secondary School, won four matches (6-0, 2-0, 2-0, 3-1) in the sweltering heat at Tampines Safra yesterday.

They were also given a walkover in another game because one of the teams did not show up.

Said 14-year-old Martin, who plays as a goalkeeper for Jurongville: "The last match against Junior Dream Team (3-1) was our toughest match.

"I'm glad we were able to grab the win. We were lacking in defence today, so that is one thing that we will work on.

"We came here to win, and in order for us to do that we will need to work even harder next week."

His teammate Muhd Firdaus will be one of the players to watch, after scoring in every game to amass a total of six goals.

Team Alpha will meet Team Bravo, a side consisting of all Jurongville players, in the quarter-finals.

A total of 10 teams were divided into two groups in the seven-a-side tournament, with the top four teams from each pool progressing to the next round.

The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will be played at Tampines Safra this coming Saturday. The champions will earn a training stint at Valencia Soccer Schools in Singapore.

Earlier in the day, the players attended a pre-match coaching session conducted by Geylang International's head coach Hasrin Jailani and Prime League coach Mohd Noor Ali.

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Eagles forward Shahfiq Ghani also took part in the session, during which he shared his experience from his Junior Centres of Excellence (JCOE) days.

Initially, an Under-17 competition was also included in the Epson Cup, but it was later called off.

Said Bambang Sugeng, director of SINAD Sports Group, the official tournament partner: "Regrettably, the decision was made after much deliberation as there were insufficient entries that qualified, because some of the interested teams included JCOE and club players.

"We are however very encouraged by the response for the Under-15 teams, and will be reviewing the results and feedback after the tournament as learning points from the inaugural cup."