阿兄见解 (A point of view from "Big Brother") -EDITED

Duric - 人在江湖,身不由己? (whose existence in the team beyond his control?)

A colleague of me (whom I call him "阿兄"- "Big Brother" in Teochew dialect) offered a different perspective on the current state of the national team a few days ago.

"We need a complete overhaul of the system." said my colleague, an avid football follower stayed in Hougang.

"Doesn't it tell you a lot things when our frontline still depend on the likes of (Aleksandar) Duric and Indra (Sahdan Daud), who're already in their sunset years as a striker?" he asked.

National skipper Indra Sahdan would face the chop if "阿兄" is the national coach.

"If I'm the national coach, this are the things I will do!" as he continued.

"First, I would set an age limit of 25 for the team, and gradually phrased out those above that age. This is maintain the energy level of the team."

"Secondly, I would set a criteria of only those who are at least 1.7m, and able to achieve a maximum of 12 seconds in 100m sprint to be in my team since the game is more about having height and speed nowadays." he explained.

(Picture Credit: wikipedia) Park Ji Sung - one of few Asian players earning their wages at the top.

"Just take at look at Asian players like Park Ji Sung (above), aren't they not at their top of their game where they are now?

"It's about having some tough military-style of training to instill some mental toughness in our current group of players whom I think are sorely lack of it."

"While players in other countries might have run more than 10 kilometers before the start of their training, what about our players? Who might have the comfort and leisure to drive to training in their cars or ride on bikes" he added (P.S: citation based on 阿兄's observation and understanding).

阿兄” is a regular at Hougang Stadium.

"I can tell you this, whenever I walked out of the stadium after each game (as he did when he left half-time during Sengkang's 3-0 defeat to Geylang not long ago), I feel nothing but dejection about the state of football we have in Singapore." as he sums up his thoughts.

SHOW OF APPRECIATION FROM 阿兄

"阿兄" thanks everybody for their feedback, as he merely wanted to make his view heard as a concerned Singapore football fan and this is what he have to say.

"I thank everybody for their feedback as (what I said is) meant for the future of our national team.

As I said again in today's game both speed, height and fitness are crucial factors in today's game, especially for defenders.

Just take a look at the present 100m world champions (Usain Bolt), he is not that muscular-built, but he has THE speed!

I agree that (Lionel) Messi is short, but he is someone exceptional and do we have someone like him in Singapore now?"