Football
Kenneth Tan 9y

S.League: Balestier device a plan to stop DPMM hotshot Ramazotti

Balestier Khalsa captain Zaiful Nizam believes his team will be able to stop Brunei DPMM's prolific striker Rafael Ramazotti when both sides face each other on Friday.

The Brazilian hotshot has scored eight goals this season so far in six matches, with most of his goals coming through headers making use of his height.

Ramazotti -- who leads the goalscorer's chart -- was also named the S.League Player of the Month for March.

However, Zaiful is confident that he and his defenders will be able to prevent the Brazilian from adding to his tally at the Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium.

"For a goalkeeper, it's going to be a long game for me," said Zaiful. "I know they will come attack us since we are playing back to back games.

"But I'm used to it, although I know it's going to be tough for us.

"To stop Ramazotti, the defence and I have to work together. I'm looking forward to the stop all the crosses. I know that I am at a disadvantage in terms of height, but I can make up for it in the air.

"Robbie (Robert Pericic) can help out. He's very tall, and can help us out at the set pieces to head away the ball.

"All of us in defence just need to communicate because if we don't talk, the defence will collapse."

Centre-back Igor Cerina, who has been a key figure in the heart of the defence since joining the Tigers at the start of the year, also identified Ramazotti as the main threat.

"He has scored a lot from headers," said Cerina. "So, we have to keep him as far away from our box and not concede a lot of dead ball situations.

"Of course, we also have to prevent him from getting the ball in the air as well."

Both Cerina and Zaiful are also confident that they will be able to stun the unbeaten DPMM and upset the odds, despite having less than 72 hours of rest after playing in the midweek AFC Cup game.

"In our training session, coach Marko Kraljevic did some excellent research and highlighted DPMM's weak points," said Cerina."We believe we can be a match against them.

"In the AFC Cup, we proved that we can compete against better players. We should have not much problems against DPMM in Brunei."

"The ball is round, anything can happen," Zaiful added.

"Sometimes, big teams can lose to smaller teams. Things can happen, this is football.

"But the most important thing is that we give 110 percent on the pitch no matter what happens."

Balestier Khalsa Probable Lineup: Zaiful Nizam (GK)(C), Ahmad Syahir, Igor Cerina, Nurullah Hussein, Ho Wai Loon, Emir Lotinac, Poh Yi Feng, Ignatius Ang, Tarik Cmajcanin, Miroslav Kristic, Robert Pericic.

Brunei DPMM Probable Lineup: Wardun Yussof (GK), Aminuddin Zakwan, Brian McLean, Boris Raspudic, Sairol Sahari, Rosmin Kamis (C), Hendra Azam, Helmi Zambin, Azwan Ali, Rafael Ramazotti, Paulo Sergio.

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