Taisuke Akiyoshi (blue) heads to Bulgaria

Having read about former SAFFC winger Taisuke Akiyoshi (joining a list of ex-Albirex Niigata [S] heading to Europe) signed for Slavia Sofia, a club in Bulgaria on a two-and-half year as reported by TODAY, I posted my thoughts in italic below in the blog Facebook page.

"Despite the resentment of their presence as a foreigner-based club, it's hard to deny the contribution made by Albirex Niigata (Singapore) since they joined the league in 2004.

If the league authority been talking about the crucial role of having these foreigner-based squads in the S.League, no one can hardly disagree the White Swans are the benchmark of that of well functioning CLUB.

Whilst their on-field performance only started to pick up since last year (with their first ever honour - the League Cup), the well-oiled mechanism to operate the club off the field is for all to see and emulate.

With that on top of those alumni, bedside those promoted to senior squad back in Japan (like Bruno Castanheira) or headed to Europe like Akiyoshi, have we not seen them as the critical supply source for quality players (i.e: Kenji Arai, Norikazu Murakami, Shimpei Sakurada, etc.) in our league in recent years?"

Managed to gather some feedback on this thought following the posting in yesterday morning.

Said "Yaz Banz", one member of the blog's Facebook group:"The team (Albirex) is already an established outfit in J-League in many ways, to send their feeder squad here is what we should embrace and ideally learn from." having read what I posted the blog wall.

Perhaps it is the willingness to venture overseas (out of this region) in these Japanese players after their S.League stint that set them apart from the local lads in view of a White Swans supporter.

"It's up to the individual player if he wants to take up the opportunity to leave home to venture overseas to prove they are better than those local players in a foreign land or not." said the fan of the Japanese club who requested anonymity when spoken to.

"So far, our local lads could only secure short training stints in European clubs, not even a loan deal.

"Although I am not sure if the lack of ambition to leave the comfort zone is one of those reasons that deterred Singaporean players from venture aboard." he added.

Lack of ambition is being perceived as one such reason for the lack of breakthrough, although one can never deny the nagging issues of the national service and the "paper chase" are being the main bogging factors for the local players.

While we continue to look in envious glare as foreign players leapfrog to a greener pasture after here, we really hope some Singapore players out there are brave enough, like their Japanese peers, to drop everything and head out for a venture.

Where to?? Didn't I blogged more than six years ago that Australia is one such option?

(This entry is formulated based on the transcript of the media release issued by X-League, one of the partners of this blog.)

(P.S: The images depicted in this blog entry are provided by X-League.)

Not just futsal, the new facilities include eateries and a supermarket within reach

The Woodlands region, located at the north of Singapore, will see a new futsal league kicks off in the month of March.

Boasting eight social football teams with players from both Singapore and Malaysia, the new tournament will encompass a unique three team promotion/relegation structure sanctioned by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS).

The X-League's Sports Planet (SP) Futsal League is the brainchild of both X-League and its partners, Sports Planet with effort to bring the smaller version of the beautiful game to residents staying in the north.

"Weather-proof" - a total of four sheltered futsal pitches

All matches will be played in Sports Planet's latest facilities at Woodlands Industrial Park 7.

The winning team of this new league will get a chance to pit their skills against their Malaysian counterparts at Sports Planet's Annual Futsal Tournament in Kuala Lumpur in a sponsored trip for the entire team.

The tournament in the Malaysian capital will encompass 32 teams including the champions from twelve Sports Planet venues across Malaysia.

"We'll add our shout to the 'Kallang Roar' mania by rewarding the inaugural futsal season winner with a chance to pit their skills across the causeway."said Mr Navin Nambiar, Managing Director of the X-League.

Citing the legendary atmosphere generated by the Singapore fans at the demolished National Stadium during the old Malaysia Cup days during the 1970s to 1990s.

Total of eight teams will be taking part in this new league

Ridding on the hype generated by the participation of the Lions XII in the domestic league across the other side of the Causeway, the organizers hope it will help keep the momentum going with this gesture that would be an extra incentive to spur the participating teams.

Which is why the choice of staging this new tournament in the new facilities in Woodlands is equally crucial as Navin feels Sports Planet's expertise will complement with that of X-League's envision of having a successful event.

"Our partnership with Sports Planet also comes as a natural choice since they are the largest and most professionally run futsal venue provider in Singapore and Malaysia." said Navin.

A sentiment that is echoed by Mr Daniel Heng, Director, Sports Planet.

"We feel that with this collaboration, we're reaching out to a wider target audience with similar social footballing interests in the North and across the border.

"We're very excited about our new Woodlands futsal venue and look forward to working with the X-League on similar projects moving forward." said Mr Heng.

Quality match play to be complement by quality match ball

What is more in store are incentives to entice players with the dangling of goodies to players with the awarding of boots and goalkeepers gloves to outstanding performers kindly sponsored by Weston Corporation, Singapore's Premier Soccer Store who will also be supplying the league official ball - Mitre Pro futsal balls.

To encourage interaction among the teams and players of the league, the organizers had appointed local renowned online soccer forum site - KallangRoar.com as the official forum for the league to serve as a meeting point to fulfill such purpose.

(P.S: views expressed may not be that of those of the blogger...)

I took the shot of Lee Lim Saeng and post in this album and saw the almost identical on another website

Straight to the point here that I would like to seek third-party opinion if these two shots are identical here?

If it's identical, I would like to state that under no circumstance was I ever being approached by any organization or individual to request to reproduce this picture for any purpose on prior notice.

It's regrettable that if these two pictures are indeed the same, despite the "Copyright Information" posted at the top of the page.

Whilst I am grateful that all along due permission was being sought before-handed and acknowledgement is given upon any reproduction of my photos, but it is sad to note some individuals and organizations decided to disregard the efforts and work of the originator.

If such incident ever take place again, I will not rule out the possibility to stop all my photography work on this blog.

However, having said all these.. please judge for me if these two shots are  identical, thank you.

If they are NOT identical, please accept my unreserved apologies to those I may have caused distress...

National coach Raddy Avramovic (pictured right) has been pretty quiet of late since he was named as an advisor to the Lions XII team months back.

With the media attention being shifted to focus on other issues such as the "come-and-go of Johan Gouttefangeas", the ongoing fixation on the tournament as the result of the joint-MOU signed last year, everyone seems to have forgotten about the concluding match of the faltering World Cup qualifiers against Iraq in Qatar.

It wasn't until recently when coach Raddy called up a group of 25 players for a centralized training session beginning this coming Sunday in preparation for the Middle-East journey I think many would have long forgotten about (after all, who would bother after the big gamble that failed to reap any dividend?).

A glance at the year long schedule issued by the league authority had indicated that the only work left to be done is to concentrate on the AFF Suzuki Cup at the end of the year for coach Raddy.

As compared to recent years, the calendar on his desk would be circled with tournaments, qualifiers such as the Asian Cup, SEA Games, etc. and I am not sure if it would be a sign to allow the longest-serving Lions coach in recent years some breather to work out his plan quietly away from the spotlight.

It was only until recently I was informed that while Suzuki Cup allows players to earn cap to their individual accolade when representing their country in this biennial regional tournament, it does not award any point to these countries taking part as it is not an AFC organized tournament.

So which is why someone did suggest months ago to make use of those "FIFA dates" to organize friendlies against other national teams to gain the much needed international exposure and also accumulate those ranking points to push the Lions up in the FIFA ranking (which is now at position 148 - as on 15th Feb 2012).

After all, a better international ranking would help to place Singapore football in a favourable position instead of being seen as a "backwater" area of the game.

Having said all that, however, I think better quality friendly opponents would be best to see the Lions learn the hard way, rather against some minnows that give unsustainable sense of achievement.

Hope to see that "old" Raddy that shown us the guts to bring in some more unproven youngsters to form the backbone of the team in his early days again and those who are still willing to don the red top.