Well... I'm not the chosen one but all in the name of good fun :)

Just received a call from the organizers that organized the "Tiger Beer Regional Online Influencer Challenge" contest with the grand prize to meet Wayne Rooney in Manchester.

Unfortunately, I am not the chosen one, but it was fun and interesting during the whole process and I would like to say a BIG THANK YOU to those who help to spread the word around about my participating.

Maybe some other time eh... and many thanks to the organizers for invited me to take part and met up some other like-minded bloggers ...

[Feature] Lionel Lewis - The Brand Ambassador for "Maximuscle"

(The content of this entry is obtained via the transcript by Status Sports Pte Ltd, the exclusive distributors for Maximuscle in Asia)

(Image depicted in this entry was provided by Status Sports, unless stated )

Lionel Lewis, current Singapore Lion and Home United Goalkeeper joins a team of Singapore’s top athletes with glory in their sights in becoming a Maximuscle Brand Ambassador.

Together with Singapore National Rugby Captain Jonathan Lee, national sprinter and current national 100m record holder Amanda Choo as well as up and coming weightlifter Lewis Chua, the quartet complete the roster of Maximuscle’s Singapore Brand Ambassadors.

Maximuscle, from the United Kingdom, is Europe’s market leader in Sports Nutrition, and counts Barclays Premier League’s Fulham FC and Tottenham’s Jermaine Jenas as their official partners.

Each Maximuscle product is developed by a team of highly regarded sports nutritionists and scientists, and is targeted to fuel the athlete in everyone from the weekend warrior to the elite international representative. This is the first time the range will be available direct in Singapore.

“I’ve used Maximuscle products for a number of years, and I know they work from an athlete’s perspective. We are honoured to support our National athletes and people of all sporting ambitions with quality products that are developed for sports people by sports people.” said Mr Alex Chew, Director of Status Sports Pte Ltd - the exclusive distributors for Maximuscle in Asia

Lionel in action (picture credit: Ko Po Hui)

Currently focused on the photo finish run for the S.League crown and the AFF Suzuki Cup in December, Lionel Lewis has been on a tailor made nutritional plan with Maximuscle products aimed to increase his strength and aid his recovery with a busy domestic and international schedule ahead.

“Maximuscle has a proven track record for over 15 years, and with each product approved by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA), I am proud to have their support with products that are helping me be in the best physical shape I have ever been in for club and country,” he noted.

About Maximuscle
As Europe’s leading sports nutrition company, Maximuscle is committed to fueling the athlete in everyone. From the weekend warrior to the elite national representative, Maximuscle products are designed to enhance performance, optimize recovery and help achieve the sporting goals of all levels of athletes.

Maximuscle’s reputation and unique product range means they supply sports nutrition products to many of the biggest names in sport, including The British & Irish Lions, England and Wales Cricket Board, Premiership football team Fulham FC, and London Wasps RFC.

Maximuscle jointly pioneered the world’s first ISO17025 certified drug screening programme in 2002. This means that all products are independently batch drug screened at the finished product level prior to release.

This involves every batch of every product being screened for banned substances and products are also registered with Informed-Sport – www.informed-sport.com. Maximuscle holds certificates of analysis for all products to ensure that every batch of finished product can be traced back to the raw ingredients.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON "Maximuscle", PLEASE LOG ON TO www.maximuscle.sg

[COACHING POST] Albirex Niigata (S) is looking for football clinic coaches

(The following message is brought to by Albirex Niigata (S) FC)

Albirex Niigata (S) FC is looking for 2 part-time football coaches to conduct clinics for Children Aged 6 to 12 years old. The requirements are as follows:

Licence: Minimum Football Coaching “C” Licence

Days/Time: Every Saturday – 9 am to 12 am, Every Sunday – 9 am to 11 am

Remuneration: Saturday – S$70 / session; Sunday – S$50 / session

Minimum Commitment: 1 year

Others: Japanese-speaking an advantage but not a requirement

Interested parties are requested to send CV to taniguchi@albirex.com.sg. Only shortlisted applicants would be notified.

[MEDIA RELEASE] FAS Disciplinary Committee Verdict on Young Lions and Beijing Guoan Talent match

(Media Information by Football Association of Singapore)

SINGAPORE, 22 September: The FAS Disciplinary Committee arrived at their verdict today with regards to the charges of gross misconduct laid on Young Lions and Beijing Guoan Talent during their Great Eastern YEO’S S.League match on 07 September 2010 at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

Both clubs have been docked five points and fined $5,000 each. The FAS Disciplinary Committee has also concluded that the match will not be replayed and the result will stand.

Six players from the Young Lions have been charged for gross misconduct which brought the game into disrepute.

Madhu Mohana has been suspended from playing or participating in all football related activities for 4 months and fined S$1,000.

Gabriel Quak Jun Yi has been suspended from playing or participating in all football related activities for 4 months and fined S$1,000.

Khairul Nizam has been suspended from playing or participating in all football related activities for 8 months and fined S$2,000.

Fairoz Hasan has been suspended from playing or participating in all football related activities for 8 months and fined S$1,500.

Safuwan Baharudin has been fined S$2,000.

Irwan Shah has fined S$2,000.

10 players from Beijing Guoan Talent have been charged for gross misconduct which brought the game into disrepute.

Tang Miao, Zhao Yang, Zhang Zhaohui, Cui Yu have been fined S$2,000.

Yan Hai and Yu Tianzhu have been fined S$3,000.

Li Tixiang has been fined S$2,500.

Su Boyang has been suspended from playing or participating in all football related activities for 8 months and fined S$2,000.

Zhang Ye has been suspended from playing or participating in all football related activities for 8 months and fined S$1,500.

Meng Yang has been suspended from playing or participating in all football related activities for 12 months and fined S$3,000.

Eugene Loo, Young Lions Team Manager, said after the hearing, “We believe that the hearing conducted was detailed and the appropriate action was carried out by the FAS Disciplinary Committee. The players have expressed their remorse for the incident and they understand the importance of maintaining their discipline and professionalism at all time. Once again, we are deeply sorry for the incident and look to move forward from the incident”

Beijing Guoan Talent, Team Manager, Jonathan Wong said, “We apologise once again for the incident. We believe that the players deserved to be punished for their actions and the appropriate action was meted out”

K. Bala Chandran concluded the two-day hearing “The Disciplinary Committee extensively reviewed 5 video footages of the match, which provided us with a clear view of the incidents for each and every player. The players have been very remorseful in their mitigation and have admitted to the charges laid on them.”

CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION OF SINGAPORE

22 September 2010

Stags tripped again at BIG time

(Pictured above) Home Utd's 'keeper Lionel Lewis rose above to make it safety first

It is now also confirmed a saying that Tampines Rovers will buckle down at bigger stages.

After losing to Etoile two weeks ago at Jalan Besar, they stormed back with a 4-1 away win over the cellar-dwellers Woodlands Wellington last week.

Therefore, inevitable the chips were up and what a perfect setting at home it was as the Stags were eager not only to see their heroes enhance their chance of winning the league title, but also to see the historical milestone to be set by evergreen striker Aleksandar Duric.

(Pictured above) Stag's coach Vorawan Chitavanichput on a brave front when facing the media after the lost.

However, it was their guests - Home United who stole the limelight and wrecked their hosts' party at their own backyard with a gallant display that not only kept Tampines at bay throughout the night, shut Duric out of the game, but effectively consigned the Stags' title hopes into tatters.

Update on Discplinary Committee (DC) hearing

Mr K Balachandra (pictured above) talks to the media after the hearing outside Jalan Besar Stadium.

It was a long, lengthy wait as expected, as the main media outlets and the concerned parties descended at the Jalan Besar Stadium for the Disciplinary Committee (DC) hearing for the mass-brawl that took place between Young Lions and Beijing Guoan Talents on the 7th September.

The DC panel is a independent body from the FAS and they are formed by
a group of lawyers who presided over the hearing.

After five hours of hearing, the chairman of the DC, Mr K Balachandra
emerged and revealed that total 16 players from both sides are being
charged (ten from Beijing, six from Young Lions).

Mr Balachandra added the hearing will be continued at 6.30pm later of
the day, with verdict likely to be issued following the session

[Instant Reaction] Shahril Ishak is leaving too..

My fellow blogger, Antony Sutton of "Jakarta Casual" warned me before-handed that Indonesian football is full of surprises and uncertainty with many transfer deals inked in the last minute or collapsed at the eleventh hour (ask Duric).

And so last night, when I took this picture of Singapore skipper Shahril Ishak (pictured above in middle) receiving "S.League Player of the Month" for July at Queenstown Stadium prior to the match between Etoile and Balestier.

Next thing, I learnt when I woke up to fiddle my iPhone and saw the news that the red-hot Shahril is leaving for Indonesian club Persib Bandung, who offered to double his present salary he is earning with Home United plus a house threw in as well.

And here you have it, both Shahril and Baihakki Khaizan (pictured above right) will be playing for the West Javanese club in the upcoming ISL season in days to come.

Former Geylang defender Baihakki played for Persija Jakarta in the last ISL season, before he was released by the club based in the Indonesian capital to switch over their fiercest rival in close season (check out this link to see Bai's first day in office at Persib)

(P.S: Honestly, I'm very surprise to see Home United let go Shahril at this point of time)

Singapore drawn with Vietnam and Myanmar in AFF Suzuki Cup 2010

(Media Information from Football Association for Singapore)

Singapore drawn with Vietnam and Myanmar in AFF Suzuki Cup 2010

HANOI, 15 September 2010: Singapore has been drawn in Group B alongside Myanmar, defending champions and co-hosts, Vietnam and the qualifying round’s runner-up for December’s AFF Suzuki Cup 2010. Group A will feature the other co-hosts Indonesia as well as Malaysia, Thailand and the qualifying round winner.

The qualifiers are scheduled from 22 to 26 October in Laos and will involve Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines and Timor Leste with the top two going through to the tournament proper.

The draw took place this afternoon at the Sheraton Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Singapore, winners of the biennial tournament on three occasions – 1998, 2004 and 2007 - kick off their challenge for the Suzuki Cup on 2 December against the qualifying round’s runner-up with their second group game against Myanmar on 5 December.

The Lions will then meet Vietnam, who knocked them out in the semi-finals of the last tournament, on 8 December in Hanoi.

Singapore National Coach Radojko Avramovic gave his reactions following the draw: “The group we are in is slightly easier than the other group where there will be three title contenders in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.”

“Overall I am happy with the draw. It is a good draw for us. There are three stages in the tournament and we need to clear the first two stages to reach our target of the final.”

“Our target in this tournament is to reach the final. To do that, we must make sure we make it to the semi finals.”

Singapore Fixtures (To be played in Hanoi)

• 2 December
  Singapore vs Runners-up Qualifiers
  

• 5 December
  Singapore vs Myanmar

• 8 December
  Singapore vs Vietnam
  

CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION OF SINGAPORE

15 September 2010

- SOME THOUGHTS FROM THE BLOG's FACEBOOK GROUP

Honestly speaking, for Singapore to aim to become Top 10 in Asia, while being Top 20 in asia currently, we should not be afraid of any opponent in ASEAN. Thailand ultimately still remain to be the only worthy opponent.

So as long as we avoid... Thailand, we should progress smoothly to the Semis at least.

Thats my expectation for the Lions. - Lim MJ

I don't really care who's in our group. we're freaking 3-time champs. we shouldn't fear anyone. I'm more worried about our team losing focus and playing badly. - Nicholas Tee

Luncheon at "Carousel" with Young Lions and Beijing Guoan Talent

Representatives from Young Lions and Beijing Guoan Talent FC met at "Carousel" at Royal Plaza of Scotts for a luncheon for the first time since the mass brawl that took place on the 7th of September at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

This luncheon session allowed both parties to make their stand on the unpleasant incident that caused quite a stir in both Singapore and China with both Young Lions and Beijing Guoan Talent reiterated that tough disciplinary actions will be shown to those perpetrators.

At the meantime, representatives from the two teams expressed their sincere regret and apology to the fans and public, while pleading for forgiveness for those involved in the mass brawl.

Mr Eugene Loo, the team manager of the Young Lions (pictured above, on extreme right) in his welcome speech thanks their guests for turning up for the luncheon and amid the ongoing Hari Raya celebration, he hopes both sides will forgive each other in the spirit the festival preaches for.

Mr Loo also added the team will fully cooperate with the Disciplinary Committee during the investigation and accept whatever decision the committee undertake.

Mr Wei Kexing (pictured above) is the Deputy General Manager of Beijing Guoan Football Club - the parent club of Talent affirmed the club's position in the statement they made earlier and don't rule the possibility of expulsion of any player from the club if found guilty.

Mr Wei also thanks the league authority and the local media for the help and support they had given to his club's feeder side since joining the S.League.

Lastly, he extends his club's invitation to the National U23 team aka The Cubs, who are to be taking part in the November's Asia Games, to their training base for their preparation prior to the meet.

Captains of both sides - Young Lions' Hariss Harun (pictured above, left) present a box of festive goodies to his counterpart Zhang Zhaohui at the end of the luncheon session.

[MEDIA RELEASE] Official statements on the 7th Sept 2010 incident between Young Lions and Beijing Guoan Talent

For immediate release

SINGAPORE, 7 September 2010 - The Great Eastern-YEO’S S.League match between the Young Lions and Beijing Guoan Talent tonight was abandoned at the 89th minute after a scuffle broke out between players from both sides.

The FAS takes a serious view of this gross misconduct by the players. We are conducting an investigation into this matter and the perpetrator will be dealt with severely.

The score was at 1-1 when the match was abandoned.

CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION OF SINGAPORE

7 September 2010

- The following official statements were released the day after the incident took place from both FAS and the Young Lions.

• The FAS's statement
  

For immediate release:

Update on Young Lions and Beijing Guoan Talent match incident

SINGAPORE, 8 September 2010: FAS is currently in the process of our investigation and we have received the reports from the Match Commissioner and the match officials. We have given both the Young Lions and Beijing Guoan Talent until Tuesday 14 September, to file their respective reports on the incident that took place on Tuesday 7 September.

The FAS Disciplinary Committee will then review the reports and videos before formally laying charges against the players involved in the incident. The disciplinary hearing is scheduled to take place in a fortnight’s time.

- Ends -

CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION OF SINGAPORE

08 September 2010

• The Young Lions' statement
  

For immediate release:

Young Lions statement to last nights S.League Match against Beijing Guoan

SINGAPORE, 8 September 2010 - The Young Lions would like to apologise for the conduct of our players at the Great Eastern-YEOS S.League match against Beijing Guoan Talent last evening.

We are very disappointed by the incident and will work closely with the FAS, as well as investigate internally on this matter.

Team Manager, Eugene Loo
Such incidents are unacceptable and the players are very remorseful for their actions. We apologise for the incident and we maintain that the discipline of our players will always remain a top priority. An investigation is currently ongoing and we will cooperate with the Disciplinary Committee to ensure that appropriate action is taken.

Captain, Hariss Harun
We are very sorry for the incident. As players, we understand that we must maintain our discipline and professionalism at all times. We apologise to our fans, coaches and technical staff for the incident. We know that such behaviour was unacceptable and we are regretful of our actions.

- Ends -

YOUNG LIONS

08 September 2010

- The following official statements were released by the FAS, on 9th September 2010, pertaining the rescheduling of matches involving Young Lions and Beijing Guoan Talent after the incident.

STATEMENT ONE
For immediate release:

Young Lions and Beijing Guoan Talent matches postponed until disciplinary hearing is concluded

SINGAPORE, 9 September 2010: As the investigation is still on-going and taking into account the seriousness of the incident involving the Young Lions and Beijing Guoan Talent FC on September 7, all matches involving both teams will be suspended until the disciplinary hearing is concluded.

Please see below for the postponed matches in the coming week.

• RHB Singapore Cup Quarter-Final:
  12 September
  Match 9: Young Lions vs Albirex Niigata FC (S) (Jalan Besar Stadium).
  

• Great Eastern – YEO’S S.League:
  13 September
  Match 171: Beijing Guoan Talent FC vs Gombak United FC (Yishun Stadium).
  
  17 September
  Match 106: Singapore Armed Forces FC vs Young Lions (Choa Chu Kang Stadium).
  

- Ends -

CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION OF SINGAPORE

09 September 2010

STATEMENT TWO
For immediate release:

Young Lions and Beijing Guoan Talent matches postponed until disciplinary hearing is concluded

SINGAPORE, 9 September 2010: Further to the matches that will be suspended next week, please see below for the remaining three postponed matches involving both the Young Lions and Beijing Guoan Talent.

• RHB Singapore Cup Quarter-Final:
  23 September
  Match 10: Albirex Niigata FC (S) vs Young Lions (Jurong East Stadium).
  

• Great Eastern – YEO’S S.League:
  20 September
  Match 181: Young Lions FC vs Sengkang Punggol FC (Jalan Besar Stadium).
  
  23 September
  Match 180: Singapore Armed Forces FC vs Beijing Guoan Talent (Choa Chu Kang Stadium).
  

- Ends -

CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION OF SINGAPORE

09 September 2010

- The following official statement was released by Beijing Guoan Talent Football Club on the 9th September 2010, pertaining to the incident took place on 7th September 2010 (obtained via this link)

国安精英俱乐部发表公开声明
http://fcguoan.sina.com.cn 2010年09月09日10:48 国安官网

BeijingGuoan Talent FC extends our regret for the
conduct of our players in the match on 7 September
2010 against the Young Lions。

We are disappointed by this incident as our players
are generally disciplined and well behaved。

We will work closely with FAS and will investigate
internally on this。We will be prepared to respect
the findings of the Disciplinary Committee。

　　北京国安精英足球俱乐部为本俱乐部球员在2010年9月7日与YOUNG LION的比赛中发生双方冲突的行为表示遗憾。

　　由于本俱乐部球员平日举止端正并遵守纪律，我们对上述事件表示失望。

　　我们会和FAS紧密配合并将内部调查此事。就纪律委员会对此调查出的结果，我们会予以尊重。

北京国安精英足球俱乐部

beijing guoan talent football club

[COURSE] ACE Junior Grassroots Coaching License (Football)‏

(The following course is organized by Asia Football Group Pte Ltd and its subsidiary, Academy of Coaches Education.)

ACE Junior Grassroots Coaching License

• Dates: 3rd to 7th November 2010
• Duration : 5 Days Part-Time ( Wednesday to Sunday)
• Course Duration : 25 Hours
  

Asia Football Group Pte Ltd and its subsidiary, Academy of Coaches Education is inviting you to join the upcoming course which will be conducted here in Singapore in November.

This course educates and equips coaches on the fundamentals of coaching grassroots football for ages 4-8 years old. The course aims to fill the vacuum of specialised youth coaching at grassroots level.

This ACE Junior Grassroots Coaching License is the entry level course of a 3-course programme that will cater to develop coaches with adequate knowledge of coaching youth from 4 -14 years of age.

The courses which is developed and conducted for the part-time coaches in mind will be run on weekday nights and on weekend days.

For more information, please do not hesitate to contact Mr Khairul Asyraf at 98525009 or email him at khairulasyraf@afg-asia.com

• PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR REGISTRATION FORM
• PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR THE COURSE SCHEDULE
  

"Table-Top" Series so far...

With five more rounds to go, it's still everyone's guess who would eventually walk away with the championship.

Over the past few days, the title contenders - Etoile played both Tampines Rovers and Home United played with mixed results.

(Picture above) Having lost to Home United on a Shahril Ishak's strike on "Friday Night Football", the Frenchmen came back strongly to beat the Stags on the same artificial surface.

The Stars took the lead through the league scoring leader Frederic Mendy in the 50th minute with Stags' skipper Aliff Shafaein levelled the scores in the 59th minute, but nippy midfielder Flavien Michelini's 66th strike ensured the Queenstown-based club had all three points wrapped.

(Pictured above) Korean defender Park Yo Seb would have salvaged a point at least for the Eastern Giants but his penalty hit the upright to see Etoile propelled back to the top of the standings.

All these came at time when Home United got themselves messed up at their own Clementi fortress for the slip-up against Sengkang Punggol, that almost gifted their ex-stalwart Aide Iskandar one of the highlights of his relatively new coaching career against his old club.

(Pictured above) Nonetheless, as what Steven Tan, the assistant coach to Tampines Rovers, who spoke the media after their defeat to Etoile hours ago, every game now is crucially for his team in their bid for the title they last won in 2005.

A view which equally shared by their fellow title-contenders.

• CLICK HERE TO SEE THE MATCH PHOTO OF THE MATCH BETWEEN HOME UNITED AND ETOILE.
• CLICK HERE TO SEE THE MATCH PHOTO OF THE MATCH BETWEEN TAMPINES ROVERS AND ETOILE

"Do you think you'll do any good to the league?"

Not that long ago, I came across one posting from an online forum.

The posting on the online forum detailed a fan's frustration over the state of the game in this country, with one of her grouses targetted the presence of the feeder squads of both Albirex Niigata and Beijing Guoan, which she felt had deprived some local talents from playing at the top level.

She argued that players from both teams are merely using S.League as a "training ground" and added if "If FAS thinks Beijing Guo'an (pictured above) can attract a packed house every week, they must be dreaming." following major reshuffling of players in the Chinese-based squad during the transfer window.

"Feeder teams are bad news, as demonstrated by Albirex (pictured below). When a player performs well, he will be recalled to the parent team and they will send a lousy player to replace. This means that we will never have good players in those feeder squads." she added.

Seemly agreed with that arguement is a member of this blog's Facebook group in his inputs in one of the discussions that he claimed the lack of competitiveness from these feeder squads devaluing the league in the process.

"Not being competitive is just pulling the league's standard down and they are not adding anything unlike Etoile, they're just here to give their youths a run-out."

On the same notion, he added while the inclusion of the Young Lions is meant to give them much needed exposure by pitting against much senior teams in the S.League, but that's for the development of local football.

"I don't think we should be affording the same privilege to a foreign team when there's no gains for the league"

The inclusion of foreigner-based teams has always been a thorny issue in the league, which fans and the league authority never seems eye-to-eye.

Despite the less-than-convincing showing of those Chinese-based clubs since admitting Sinchi FC back in 2005, the league authority sticked to its gun by roped in the likes of Liaoning Guangyuan and Dalian Shide Siwu after the exit of the Chillins in 2007.

The mistrust of the Chinese clubs among local football supporters deepen when it was revealed that former team manager of Liaoning, Wang Xin, was allegedly masterminded in "that thing", which resulted several ex-players of the disgraced club convicted (pictured above when Lianhe Zaobao broke the news on January 2008).

Which was probably why a great animosity was generated when Beijing Guoan Talents was named as the 12th team of the league in the eleventh hour, much to the dismay of the fans who were clamouring for the inclusion of Yishun Super Reds.

In its "stereotypical" reply in wake of the mass objection to the unpopular move, the league authority assured the fans that the inclusion of the two new foreign teams was done and concluded after a long exhausting, careful consideration and will help to "enhance the standard of play" in the league.

Disgraced Zhao Zhipeng (above) was one of those convicted.

Fair enough, Etoile captured the League Cup and presently sitting at the top end of the League, however, the key would be now how convincing are both Albirex and Beijing going to follow suit.

As mentioned earlier, because the priority is to serve as a "nursery" for their parent clubs back in their countries, thus it's very unlikely to see their best players in our league (although, guys like Kenji Arai, Taisuke Akiyoshi, Shi Jiayi were discovered from the route).

Therefore, in his first post-match media briefing after their debut against Etoile, Beijing's coach Zheng Xiaotian (pictured above) was asked straight-in-the-face by a journalist, “Do you think you'll do any good to the league?”

Apparently, this question caught everyone by surprise and it took quite a while before it was translated to the Chinese coach.

“Don't compare my team with others...” replied calmly by coach Zheng then (if I remember correctly) as he do not wish to see his team associated with those who failed.

However, this question kept looming over everyone's head and we are still looking for that definite answer to that question.

Envy from their peer - El Nino Del Firo's Brazilian soujour

(The content of this entry is obtained via the transcript provided by Integrated Marketing Solutions Group [IMSG] - the PR agency for Nike Singapore)

(P.S: The copyrights of the images depicted in this blog entry belong to Nike.)

(Pictured Above) El Nino Del Firo represented Singapore in this training trip at Granja Comary

INTRODUCTION
El Nino Del Firo, the winning team of the "Senior"category of Nike Cup Singapore 2010, headed to Brazil recently to fulfill that once-in-a-lifetime dream to train in the famed Granja Comary.

DAY 1
One thing that for sure is that the group of five boys that formed the El Nino Del Firo will have the admiration from all their peers for being the selected few from around the globe that travelled to the famed Granja Comary – the Cradle of Football in Brazil that is also the training base of the A Seleção – the Brazilian national team.

That was the reward for emerged as the champions of the “Senior” category of the Nike Cup Singapore 2010.

(Pictured above) Learn dribbling the Brazilian way!!

Upon arriving at Granja Comary, the boys - Syafiq, Izwann, Faiz Rahim, Sahhid and Afiq were all giving once-in-a-lifetime experience to train exactly how the Brazilian national team train .

DAY 2
Part of the training trip was given the opportunity to be coached by some of the finest coaches in the academy that the boys learned the finer details of the game such as going through tactical drills in awareness, passing and positioning while in Teresópolis, where the academy is located.

(Pictured above) "Listen up, boys" as the coach gives out his instructions to the team.

(Pictured above) Catching beach football action at the famous Copacabana

But it was not all about having undergo drilling sessions on the pitch, the Singaporean boys were also given the opportunity to stroll along the famed Copacabana beach to catch beach football actions there.

DAY 3
The third day of the trip saw El Nino Del Firo being put to the test when they found themselves pitted against the other winning teams of the Nike Cup from Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand that joined them in this training trip.

(Pictured above) It's not all about "work" and sight-seeing too with the other participating teams at Sugar Loaf Mountain.

Beside playing against their “neighbours”, the Singapore representatives also gauged themselves against two top Brazilian youth teams were on the same day.

DAY 4
Beach football plays an important role in the development of any Brazilian footballer besides futsal, the 5-a-side indoor version of the game.

(Pictured above)The Brazilian coach and player showing the boys how beach football is properly played!

The fourth day of the trip given the boys an opportunity to be gauged by one top Brazilian beach football coach on their skill level that trademarked the game such as one-touch passing, juggling and volley of the ball while playing on the sandy surfaces.

DAY 5
It is back to the business on the fifth day of the trip, as reality unfolded on the futsal court.

(Pictured above) The Heat is on!!

Having proven themselves at their own backyard, El Nino Del Firo squared off again against their counterparts to decide who are the best in South East Asia.

Although our Singapore boys did make it to the final of the challenge, they failed to overcome the eventual winners, Enjoy FC from Malaysia at the final hurdle.

(Pictured above) El Nino Del Firo (in red) vs Malaysia's Enjoy FC

It was double happiness for the boys from across the Causeway, as they were also the winning team of the beach football competition.