BoLASEPaKO.COM - A Blog on Singapore Football

For the first time, I took part in a pre-match press conference of the national team at the Amara Hotel (above), prior to their match against Uzbekistan on 2nd June. Where the panel seat... While the media getting ready... Nice setting near the poolside at the sixth-level of the hotel (although, the only grouse was the constant traffic movement beside hotel, that noise generated by those vehicles tend to distort when the coaches were saying something.) "As the Uzbek league played its (league) championship match from 26 to 28th May, the national team can't conduct its centralized training till 28th.” said Rauf Inileyev (above, the man in green is the media officer and translator for the visiting team), coach of the Uzbekistan national team, who arrived in Singapore only yesterday. "Thus, there isn't enough time to prepare the team against Singapore, but this is not the main problem." (which he refer to aspects like having came from a region in a different tim...

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Ten years back, soon after the national team claimed its first major honour - the Tiger Cup at Vietnam in 1998. An ambitious project "GOAL 2010" was launched with the ultimate aim to see us qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Since then, it was downward spiral all the way. The 4-0 home defeat to the "auld enemy" Malaysia at Kallang in 2002 being singled out as the darkest day in Singapore football. Like a phoenix rise from the ashes, the appointment of Serbian Raddy Avramovic as the national coach proved to be a masterstroke. Under the non-nonsense Raddy, the Singapore national team transformed itself from the under-achieving side of Asean football to a force to be reckoned with in Asian football. Yes, there were dark days in the turn of the century and eventually saw the scraping of the "Goal 2010" project. But looking back on what the national team had achieved since, can't we not say we are actually "back on track" to complete what "Goal ...

Two months back, when asked what would be his biggest fear, given the lengthy break after the Lions' victory over the Lebanese. Coach Radojko Avramovic hoped his boys would take a good care of themselves to avoid any unnecessary injuries while fulfilling their club obligations. Perhaps, the string of injuries that occurred to a handful of the players is something coach Raddy would not want to see. Prior the friendly against Bahrain, already saw skipper Indra Sahdan Daud being ruled out till the return game against Uzbekistan (if he recover in time) on 7th June. Joining the Home United star are the likes of Hariss Harun, Khairul Amri, John Wilkinson and etc (barring Hariss, Wilko and Khairul did featured against the Bahrainis). Again, was late for the post-match conference, when I saw coach Raddy (above) being surrounded by the media pack. (Initially, thought that the organizers had changed the venue from the usual "Sliver" room to the staircase that led to it!) after the ...