History beckons on Friday night when Warriors FC try to become the first local side to lift a domestic trophy since 2014 when they take on Albirex Niigata (S) FC in the 11th Singapore League Cup final at Jalan Besar Stadium.

Warriors are the last Singaporean outfit to get their hands on major silverware, winning the 2014 S.League.

They've won nine S.League championships in all, and four Singapore Cups, but, surprisingly, have never claimed the League Cup.

They did reach the final in 2009, but were edged out 4-3 on penalties by Brunei DPMM after a 1-1 draw over 120 minutes.

As for cup holders Albirex, they're aiming to become the first team to win the competition four times after reaching their third successive final.

Both sides won their respective semifinals in convincing fashion on Tuesday night after progressing through a tough group that also included in-form Hougang United and Home United.

Warriors thumped three-time winners DPMM 5-1 at Jalan Besar, while Albirex dispatched 2012 finalists Geylang International 4-0 at Jurong East.

Speaking to ESPN FC, Warriors' experienced left-back Zulfadli Zainal Abidin is optimistic of their chances of toppling the defending champions.

"It's been a good run to the final and all of us are really hungry to win silverware for the club," said the 29-year-old, who is into his seventh year with the club across three spells.

"We've been focused and managed to put aside our differences to achieve a common goal. Albirex have always been a good team with quality players, so it's up to us to be disciplined tactically and mentally for the whole game to contain them.

"It'll mean a lot for me personally to win the League Cup. I've won the S.League title twice [2009 & 2014], the Singapore Cup in 2012 with this club. Now I want to win this to complete my quest."

Coach Razif Onn, however, prefers not to dwell on the possibility of achieving history.

"It doesn't matter whether we have won it before, the important thing is to give all our heart to get the victory," the 63-year-old said. "When we approach any tournament, we're always looking for favourable results to win. It all depends on the day itself and how we adapt tactically to Albirex's style of play."

Meanwhile, Albirex coach Kazuaki Yoshinaga refuses to take victory for granted, despite having defeated the Warriors twice [4-2 in the S.League and 2-0 in the League Cup group stage] this season.

"We're not thinking about our previous win over Warriors because this is the final and is a one-off game which can go either way," said the 49-year-old, who took over from quadruple-winning coach Naoki Naruo after last season.

"Even though we've beaten Warriors before, we need to know how to defend against them as they have a strong attacking line-up. We have to turn up for this game, not think too much about our previous matches and prepare well for this game."

The White Swans will continue to adopt an attacking strategy after not conceding any goals in this tournament thus far.

"We are not only thinking about the defence because if we can attack properly, that will help our defence a lot," Naruo explained.

"If we are able to put our opponents under pressure from the front, our defence will have less work to do as a result. Just the defence alone cannot win you games. We can only win games if we attack and defend well as a team."

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by KENNETH TAN

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