Tough League Cup draw for Home, Gombak and Tampines‏

(Media information by Football Association of Singapore)

SINGAPORE, 9 February 2010 – Of the top four S.League clubs to receive a bye to the quarter-finals, Home United, Gombak United and Tampines Rovers find themselves facing with a challenging League Cup journey after they were drawn in the same half of the competition’s quarter-finals.

Home United have been drawn against 2008 League Cup winners Gombak United in their quarter-final match-up, with the winner of the Tampines Rovers – Woodlands Wellington / Albirex Niigata clash awaiting in the semi-finals.

In contrast, 2009 League Cup runners-up SAFFC should be relatively pleased with the draw having been drawn at home against either Beijing Guoan Talent or Sengkang Punggol in the quarter-finals.

All eyes were on S.League new boys Etoile FC and Beijing Guoan Talent, who have been drawn to face Balestier Khalsa and Sengkang Punggol respectively in the preliminary round.

The other two preliminary round matches will see Woodlands Wellington host Albirex Niigata, with the Young Lions travelling to Bedok Stadium to play the 2009 RHB Singapore Cup winners Geylang United.

The Draw of this season's League Cup (click for a larger view)

Following Brunei DPMM’s League Cup triumph in their debut last season, Mr Winston Lee, General Secretary, FAS and Chief Executive Officer, S.League, believes the addition of Etoile FC and Beijing Guoan Talent will make for an intriguing competition.

“From what we’ve seen of the two new teams, they have the potential to finish in the top four in the league,” he said.

Mr Zainudin Nordin, FAS President, Mayor for Central Singapore District and Guest-of-Honour at the draw, is one of many who are looking forward to witness yet another exciting League Cup tournament.

“There has been a lot of romance associated with past League Cup competitions, with clubs like Woodlands Wellington, Gombak United and Brunei DPMM lifting the League Cup trophy as their very first piece of silverware, and I think we can expect surprises again this year.

“This season’s S.League has been full of thrills and excitement so far, and it will be interesting to see who will lift the first major trophy in 2010.”

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[Feature] Nazri Nasir Teams Up With The Cage: Cage F.I.T.T

(This feature and pictures used in this entry are brought to you by "The Cage" via "Strategic Public Relations Group Singapore", a renowned public relations consultancy)

Nazri Nasir was the captain of the first Singapore national team to lift up a regional trophy - the Tiger Cup in 1998

2 February 2010, Singapore – Former national football captain and local hero Nazri Nasir (pictured above) has teamed up with The Cage, Singapore’s pioneer indoor football facility, to develop a new fitness training concept called Cage F.I.T.T.

The Cage F.I.T.T programme aims at getting anyone fit for the game that he loves in a fun and unique group training environment. Cage F.I.T.T, which stands for Functional muscle development, Intensity suited to each fitness level, Technical skills transfer and Tactical application of skills and conditioning, is a programme designed with a mix of conditioning from a variety of other sports and football specific skills.

“Football is far more fun than looking and feeling like a hamster on a treadmill. You focus on the joy of the game rather than the pain of a workout, so that you stay motivated,” said Sanjay Danani, Managing Director of the Cage.

“The Cage F.I.T.T programme is part of efforts to reinforce our mission of making the beautiful game more enjoyable to people of all shapes and sizes,” he added.


An Youtube clip featuring Nazri and rapper Sheikh Haikel introducing "Cage FITT"
As Cage F.I.T.T’s ambassador and chief programme consultant, Nazri will be lending his experience to the team of trainers, which includes S.League footballer Mohamad Sofiyan Bin Abdul Hamid and some fitness professionals with local and overseas experience.

Nazri demonstrates part of the "Cage F.I.T.T."

Nazri has also designed the “Nazri’s Challenge” – a series of exercises which tests each participant’s progress at regular intervals over the duration of the programme. Through the variety of fitness drills, the team of Cage F.I.T.T trainers aims to reach out to those currently seeking more fun-filled exercise routines as well as weekend warriors.

“Having played the sport all my life, the decision to develop a football-based training programme came naturally to me. I feel that fitness training is an area where ex-professional footballers can use their experience and expertise to provide added value to the average Singaporean faced with the usual run-of-the-mill fitness programmes at their
local gyms,” said Nazri, who is also a current Football Association of Singapore Captains’Advisory member.

The Cage F.I.T.T group exercise programme is currently being run on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings, lasting no more than 70 minutes a session. It is aimed at giving the working professional a good start to the day in a short and sharp time frame. For rates and times, please visit http://2009.thecage.com.sg/cagefitt_1

--END--

About The Cage
The Cage is run by We Wanted to be Footballers Pte Ltd. Started by a group of passionate football fans 4 years ago, the team consisting of Rajesh Mulani, Sanjay Danani and V.Natarajan is dedicated to the serious business of fun football.

Located in Kallang, it is the first indoor football facility in Singapore and is open 24/7 for players. It provides 6 FIFA endorsed pitches and has recently offered another first; indoor cricket on astro turf at its premises.

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"I want to go to Japan!!!"

That was what SAFFC's skipper-cum-custodian Shahril Jantan (picture above in foreground) said to this blogger before the start of the penalty-shootout that would determined who will join the elites of Asian club sides in the lucrative Asian Champions League.

And the 'keeper, who missed the last weekend's game against Sriwijaya due to suspension, got his wish at the end of the day after the S.League champions progressed to the group stages of the tournament following a nail-biting finish that saw hot favourites - Thai League champions Muangthong United knocked out of the competition.

SHORT SCRIBE
To be honest, teams from Thailand are never easy opponents to play with, as they are by far technically more sounded and skilful, thus it's always a pleasure to watch them play.

And true enough that right from the start of the kick-off, the hosts were being stretched to their limit as the "Twin Qilins" utilized both the flanks and their pacey football to wreck havoc in ther Warriors half.

This picture was picked up by "Singaporesports.sg"

Less than 10 minutes into the game, SAFFC saw themselves conceded the first corner of the match (pictured above), earlier they suffered an early horror when Shaiful Esah was stretched out for a while (pictured below), but lucky he's ok after a short treatment.

Yet, despite having all the advantages in terms of having more possession and penetration in their opponents' territory, Muangthong struggled to break their duck and quite a number of occasions they restored using long shot from outside and only to see them went wide or being stopped by the impressive Shahril at goal.

(Pictured above) SAFF's Noh Rahmah's (left) attempt to rob the ball of Muangthong's Aliyoune Soumahoro on the flank.

(Pictured above) "Tough Luck, mate" as another Muangthong's wrecked attack because of their poor finishing in front of goal.

While for the Warriors, the twin flank terrors of Ahmad Latiff and Akiyoshi Taisuke failed to provide more options to their team's offences, no thanks to the Thai side's skipper Nattaporn Phanrit, who did a great job to shut out the Warrior attacking plays (Collaged below).

So at the end of the day, it's no wonder that the game headed to the "lottery" (as what SAFFC's coach Richard Bok described the "penalty shoot-out" in the post-match press conference).

4-3 was the score at the end of the day (man, how I hate this "lottery" as I was hardly breathing when taking these shots behind the goal).

PRESS CONFERENCE

"It was an excellent game and I thought the team raised to the occasion a it was a tough game for us that I want to praise the boys for what they had done." said a pleased SAFFC coach Richard Bok (pictured above) at the post-match press conference.

"It's not only relief but happiness to see SAFFC to get through to the (ACL) group stages for the second time on a roll." he added

"And we trained very hard for this (match) as we know the opponents (Muangthong) is a tough side and whatever they came at us, we returned back" when asked if his charges deserved the victory.

Muangthong's coach René Desaeyere speaks to the media after coach Bok left the room.

"I have been football for a long time, in a game (like this) we had so many chances that it's unbelievable we didn't score and that's our failure." said the 62-year old Belgian.

"I wish SAFFC success in the group stages, but I don't think so because you have to show more especially you're playing in home game." said a visibly upset coach Desaeyere.

"I think Maungthong came here to win the game and they did everything to win the game.

"It's a pity that such a game had to depend on 'lottery' (penalty shootout), but it's not lottery because there's a referee (in charge of the game)."added coach Desaeyere dismissed his counterpart's theory on the penalty shootout.

The Muangthong coach concluded his day by making the suggestion to the AFC to have a "home-away" basis, instead of the current "one-off" format to decide the play-off winner which he felt " then there'll be NO lottery".

MORE PICTURES (raw and unedited version) ON THIS MATCH CAN BE FOUND ON "BoLASEPaKO" FACEBOOK PAGE - Click HERE to access and join as a member today to see these pictures

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First Week of the Season 2010 [edited]

Some snapshots of the first week of the season...

The Young Lions warming up prior to their season opener against Woodlands Wellington at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

So were these cheerleaders from the Republic Polytechnic...

At the tunnel that leading to the pitch at the Jalan Besar Stadium - Young Lions and Woodlands Wellington gearing up and raring to go.

A Young Lions' supporter waving a big flag that bears the logo of the team.

Some eager parents armed with their cameras and video to capture their daughters who were getting ready for the cheerleading routine at the Albirex's opener against Home United.

The cheerleaders from Albirex Niigata performed before their match against Home United at the Jurong East Stadium.

This trio are having a discussion on the match they watching - Gombak Utd vs Tampines Rovers at the Jurong West Stadium.

The video crew in action - just outside the Glass Box of the Jurong West Stadium.

Debriefing after the match - Tampines-style.

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"This is OUR OWN League!"

Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee (on the rostrum) gave a rousing opening speech to those at Jalan Besar Stadium by urging more support to the local league.

"This is OUR OWN league!" rallied the Minister of State for Home Affairs and FAS advisor.

"I said it this LOUD because I not only want to make myself heard at Jalan Besar, but the whole Singapore as well!

"Bring your family and friends to the stadium, with their support at the stadiums the players will be encouraged and put up display of better football." said the former FAS president.

With that he declared the start of season 2010 at the home of Singapore football.

TRIBUTE TO THE LATE MR TAN ENG YOON

A minute of silence as a mark of respect to the late Mr Tan Eng Yoon, a former FAS Secretary-General who was killed in a road accident on last Sunday.

THE OPENING MATCH : YOUNG LIONS 2-2 WOODLANDS WELLINGTON

Woodlands started off brightly with an early goal from journeyman Winston Yap in the seventh minute, before Moroccan striker Abdelhadi Laakkad doubled the scores on the 21st minute by coolly finished off a well-worked out move from the flank.

It looked as though the Rams had secured all three points in the bag, before the signs of fatigue begun to show on them into last quarter of the game when the hosts decided to make some changes in the later stages that saw them levelled at the end of the day.

"It was an entertaining game and Woodlands is a decent team." said Young Lions coach V Sundramoorthy (pictured above) who also paid tribute to his former club.

"But being our first game of the season, some of the new players need time to settle in. And I'm glad that it was not a losing start and having come back from two goals down (to level the scores), it gives the team the confidence in our next game against Home United." added the "Dazzler".

"It was disappointing, as two points were lost." said a visibly disappointed Woodlands coach A Shasi Kumar (pictured above right with club manager Jeykanth Jeyapal at the background).

Although, the former Gombak United assistant coach stop-short to comment if the lack of match fitness was the cause of the disappointment, as he felt it was too early to assess right after the match.

However, it was mentioned at the end of the day that a few friendlies will be scheduled for the Rams who felt that such matches are adequate for their preparation before their next game against new boys - Beijing Guoan on the 18th February.

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