SINGAPORE (12 August 2012) – Brunei’s only professional club DPMM FC picked up their second Singapore League Cup in five years following their 2-0 over Geylang United in the final that was played on the weekend. DPMM had won their first title back in 2009, just before their run-in with FIFA that resulted in a two-year ban.
“I feel empty, very happy, but very tired,” said Vjeran Simunic, the chief coach of DPMM FC. “It was not easy, Geylang made us get a 2-0 comeback win. They have a nice team, a young team, they have imports like (Stefan) Milojevic and Kaplan and (Michael) King, and now they have an excellent game.
“They deserve to be in the final, they deserve to win, but we deserve it even more. We now take this trophy for a second time, and this game can push us for our last eight games in the S.League.
“This is the trophy that made me come back to Brunei from Vietnam. And now I think, with this trophy in our hands, we can challenge for a double crown.”
International striker Shahrazen Said gave DPMM FC the lead on 36th minute with a header from a tight angle following a cross from Azwan Salleh.
And in spite of the possession that Geylang had in the second half, DPMM FC then went on grab their second goal of the game in the 76th minute off a rifling free kick from Azwan for the crown.
“Maybe people will look at the 2-0 final score and think we were second best,” said V. Kanan, the chief coach of Geylang United.
“But in terms of our performance, I think we played excellent football today, we entertained the crowd and we created chances. We could even have had a penalty in the second half when Mun (Seung Man) was fouled, and I don’t know why that was not given.
“We moved on from that, though, and we dominated, especially for the whole of the second half. I thought DPMM would come out and attack more, but they were playing the long ball, and our defenders did very well and they had almost no chances.
“The only thing is that football is about scoring goals, and they scored two more than we did. Otherwise, we were the much better team, but this kind of thing happens in football.”
