SINGAPORE – Sometimes, the things that mean the most are best left unsaid. Like Lion City Sailors striker Richairo Zivkovic’s No. 34 jersey.

While it is not something the Curacaoan forward talks about, it is a tribute to a dear friend, Abdelhak Nouri, who wore the same number and six years ago suffered a cardiac arrhythmia attack that left him with severe and permanent brain damage.

In 2012, Nouri led the Ajax Under-15s to Lion City Cup glory at the Jalan Besar Stadium with a delightful chipped goal in the 4-1 win over the Singapore Under-16s. He went on to feature in the senior team, where he played alongside Zivkovic from 2015 to 2017.

In the Singapore Cup final against Hougang United on Dec 9, Zivkovic will be thinking of his friend when he steps onto the same venue Nouri starred in.

While he politely declined to speak about his former teammate, the 27-year-old will let his performances on the pitch do the talking.

Since joining the Sailors in July, he has racked up 14 goals and three assists in 17 games.

These include five goals and two assists in five Singapore Cup matches and three goals in five AFC Champions League games.

He credited his teammates like Singapore Premier League (SPL) Player of the Year and top scorer Maxime Lestienne, World Cup defender Bailey Wright and the Sailors staff for helping him settle in quickly.

Zivkovic said: “It was not hard to adapt at all. We can play with five defenders or four. Hariss (Harun) played very well in midfield, we have been good between the lines, creating many chances and looking to punish mistakes.”

Since replacing Home United and privatising in 2020, the Sailors are in the Singapore Cup final for the first time. But after finishing second behind Albirex Niigata in the SPL and exiting the Champions League at the group stage, Zivkovic knows talk is cheap.

He said: “We can be proud of ourselves because we gave Singapore some hope with our performances and results and did everything we could, but in the end it wasn’t enough.

“That’s football but you cannot call it a success if you don’t win the trophy, so for us there is some healthy pressure, and we have to embrace it and believe we can win the Cup.”

Sailors coach Aleksandar Rankovic is pleased with the character they showed to rebound from their continental elimination. They beat Tampines Rovers 6-3 over two legs in the Cup semi-final to progress.

He said: “Hougang are a good, compact side that has been doing pretty well in the last couple of games. They try to play on the break with (Djordje) Maksimovic who is their strongest weapon, scoring a lot of goals.

“We drew 1-1 in the group stage, but we didn’t play five, maybe six players from the first team and used a different system... The final will be a totally different game.”

Standing in the Sailors’ way are defending champions Hougang, who themselves are reaping the rewards of a decisive mid-season signing in Serbian striker Maksimovic, who replaced the misfiring Brian Ferreira in June.

Since then, the 24-year-old has plundered 13 goals and five assists in 20 games for the Cheetahs.

He said: “This is the first time I’m playing outside Serbia. The first month here was difficult because of the different time zones, and I couldn’t sleep well. But everyone has been very nice in a very nice country.

“I enjoy the responsibility of being the main man, but this is not just about me, we need a team effort to win the final.”

By forging a strong team spirit, Hougang coach Marko Kraljevic, himself an April replacement for Firdaus Kassim when results were poor, has also done well to haul the club from bottom to sixth place in the nine-team SPL. They beat Brunei DPMM 3-0 over two legs to reach only their third cup final.

They will be missing key injured players Kristijan Krajcek, Shahdan Sulaiman and Gabriel Quak, as well as Zulfahmi Arifin, who moved to Indonesia’s Bhayangkara. Kraljevic said: “I’m very proud of the boys, it’s really amazing performances to not concede across two legs in the semi-finals.

“We will be playing the best club in the country, but the final is a one-off, and we are going into this game confident that we can win the game.”