Hat-trick hero Kawata knocks Tampines out of League Cup

SINGAPORE - With seven first-team players away on international duty with the Singapore national team, Tampines Rovers were always expected to face an uphill task going into tonight’s (July 26) Singapore League Cup semi-final clash against Albirex Niigata.

And true to form, the weakened Stags could do nothing to prevent the White Swans, and in particular their star forward Atsushi Kawata, from cruising to a 4-0 victory at the Jurong East Stadium.

Kawata, 24, scored a sensational hat-trick to send his side into the Saturday’s League Cup final and crushed Tampines’ hopes of a domestic S.League, Singapore Cup and League Cup treble.

The result meant Albirex set up an all-foreign club final clash, after Brunei DPMM beat Home United 1-0 at Jalan Besar Stadium the tonight's other semi-final.

Tampines head coach Akbar Nawas believes Albirex will lift the Cup. "Form wise, they are on top and they have fantastic work ethic," he said. "They defend and attack as a team."

Both sides shared possession in a first half of few chances. Midfielder Masaya Jitozono saw just his shot flash just wide of goal a minute into the game before Kawata fired over the bar from 25 metres out.

However, Kawata broke the deadlock in the 32nd minute when he thumped in a precise header into the bottom right hand from Jitozono’s sublime free kick.

The Japanese side had a golden chance to seal the win early on in the second half when Rui Kumada pounced on an error from Tampines defender Jufri Taha, but he fired agonisingly wide of goal while under pressure from Tampines captain Mustafic Fahrudin.

The let-off woke the Stags up and English forward Billy Mehmet was unlucky not to have equalised when Albirex custodian Yosuke Nozawa denied him from point blank range in the 57th minute. Moments later, Canadian forward Jordan Webb fired straight at Nozawa from a tight angle.

The five-time S.League champions continued to dominate possession with veteran Noh Rahman firing a half-chance wide of goal following Mehmet’s pass, and that was as good as it got for them.

Tampines were made to rue their missed chances as, in the 67th minute, Kawata found space 30 metres from goal to unleash a thunderbolt into the top right-hand corner.

Six minutes later, the 1.77m-tall forward completed his hat-trick when he powered a header into the back of the net from yet another Jitozono cross.

“I have been speaking with Kawata and I told him he needs to be the top scorer," said Albirex coach Naoki Nauro of Kawata, who is the S.League’s joint-top goalscorer with 12 goals. "The rest of the team is very happy with him to score the goals and his is showing some of his best performances this season."

The rout was completed in the 87th minute when substitute Tatsuro Inui fired a shot in off the bar past a hapless Joey Sim in the Tampines goal.