Trouble for Tanjong Pagar as Samawira and Majid are sidelined

By SANTOKH SINGH

THE Jaguars camp suffered a body blow yesterday when midfielder Majid Motlagh was ruled out of Sunday's Singapore Pools FA Cup final.

The Iranian, who tore his left knee ligament playing against Singapore Armed Forces in the Tiger Beer Singapore Cup final last Saturday, has been advised by doctors to go for an operation.

He is expected to be out for about five months, but missing the FA Cup final was more upsetting for the player.

Said the 32-year-old: "It is very disappointing to have worked hard the whole year and then sit on the bench during the most important match.

"After our Singapore Cup win, I strongly believed that we would win the double and I would have loved to be in the team."

Majid, arguably the brains of the Jaguars midfield, will be sorely missed against Sembawang Rangers during Sunday's match at the National Stadium.

Add to that the fact that fellow midfielder and work-horse of the team, Samawira Basri, is suspended after accumulating two yellow cards and the Jaguars midfield will be heavily handicapped.

But coach Tohari Paijan is not worried.

He said: "We have enough players to do the job. We were also missing the same players when we played against Home United in the semi-finals of the Singapore Cup.

"And I think we played well in that game."

Then the Jaguars, who beat Home 1-0 at the Queenstown Stadium, moved left midfielder Vlado Bozinoski to a more central role and brought on Basri Halis to cover the left flank.

The hard working Azhar Salleh replaced Samawira to assist Bozinoski in the centre of the park.

There was some good news though. Team manager Abol Fazl announced that the $20,000 winner's purse will go to the players -- should they win. The team has already pocketed $70,000 after winning the Singapore Cup.

Said Abol: "The money is not the real motivation for the boys as much as the double. The cash will be a bonus for the top team in Singapore soccer."

The team was given a day-off from training yesterday by Coach-of-the-Year contender Tohari.

He said: "Playing two finals in one week is not easy. They need to rest. Hopefully the break will be good for the players and they will come back hungry.

"It will be a record for the club to win two titles and that has kept the players motivated at training.

"I will say that it is all systems go.