BoLASEPaKO.COM - A Blog on Singapore Football

Let us just get straight to the point. Yes, it may be the home of Singapore football, a perfect setting for the season opening match (the East-West Challenge) featuring the "cream of the crop" (minus the national team players who are away to Jordan for the Asia Cup qualifier). But having the fanfare to be staged at the Jalan Besar Stadium on a lazy Sunday afternoon, seems to be a bad choice. Far away from the hustle and bustle of Orchard Road, where the previous fanfares had took place, this should be the first time the fanfare took place somewhere in the heartland (if you consider Jalan Besar is one of those heartlands, despite its close proximity to the CBD area.) Unlike those staged in the prime area like Orchard Road, in the previous years where it adapted a "open-door, walk-in" concept, where fans and passer-by would mingled with one and other, this year event is more like a "close-door" event. In attendance were mostly "official" fans from ...

I admitted that I'm one of those who strongly advocated the use of naturalised citizens to play for the national team. However, I maintained that not at the expense of "sacrificing" our local players. Of late, I have been wondering if whatever happened to both Agu Casmir and Itimi Dickson has shifted my point of view. Don't get me wrong. I am not saying other naturalised players are not committed, it is just that the unprofessional attitude shown by these former Nigerians not only has reflected badly of them, also made people cast skepticism on their commitments to this country. Not surprisingly, letters had been pouring in questioning the selection criteria under the Foreign Talent Scheme (FTS). It is certainly hard to stomach the thoughts that some are merely making use of their sporting talents to gain the coveted red passport. Furthermore, if memory serves me well, I still recall in his first interview as a Singapore citizen, Itimi mentioned that he is putting i...

We DID it!!!! Alright..alright.. We fired the first salvo by beating the Iraqis.. It proved that nothing is impossible since Iraqis is far a much better team than us. Seems like everybody was fired up for this game despite the glooms that clouded the camp prior the match. Wish I was there, not able to be there due to other commitments :( However, I would like to remind the boys that it's just the begining and it's still a long journey ahead. Stay cool and focus, we will be in the main stage. And what a night was as at the same time the island mourned the death of former Deputy Prime Minister Mr S Rajaratnam who passed away this afternoon.

(The match ticket of the match) Young Lions cruised through the next round I must say the two MCs are kidding themselves if they thought they had a great fun in hyped up the atmosphere. It's always a thankless job in getting the fans to join in "the fun". I guessed since the "retirement" of that "wave conductor" of Kallang (during the Malaysia Cup), no one has been able to emulate that extraordinary feat like he did. Nevertheless, here I was right at the top of Jalan Besar watching the returning leg of Malaysia FA Cup tie between the Young Lions and Shanzan Muda of Pahang. Given their familiarity with the artificial turf and it's continuous offences right from the start, it's not surprise that the host took the lead in the fifth minute. Plenty of misses and uncoordinated moves dominated the first half. While Young Lions were faulted for not increased their lead following the early lead, they were also guilty of giving away numbers of threatenin...

(logo courtesy of footballasia.com) Tough times ahead? (A look before the start of the Asian Cup campaign) The same old bugbear (i.e.: poor finishing) hau nted the team again when they drew against Hong Kong in their final warm-up match before the start of the Asia Cup qualifiers. Despite the fact that the Lions had not clinched a win so far in year 2006, the concerning parties had somehow praised the team performance so far (other than the loss against the "arrogant" Danes.) Having to come back from a two-goal deficit to level against the Kuwaitis and conceded a goal at the dying moments in their match against the Omanis, is by no means an easy feat. The fighting spirit shown in those two games, maybe somehow restored (but not all) that bruised ego of Singapore football, which was badly deflated in the last year's SEA Games. The failure yet again to find net at the required moment will be the key problem for the coach Raddy to solve...

(Match picture taken from the press box) Struggling at the start (first blog using WI-FI) As a die-hard fan of the Lions, one must not blame them for losing their unbeaten streak that stretched from the beginning of last year. A long lay-off since the end of the League season, coupled with some negative controversies surrounded the team, it's not difficult to blame the boys for losing to the under-strength Danes, who fielded a large number of debutant as well. Tampines' Noh "Ah Long" Alam Shah's blunt finishing in front of the goal, shall served as a barometer of the Lions' display on the field. Wasn't really sure how the second goal was scored but the first Danish goal was clearly a result of poor defensive work at the back. Perhaps Indra Sahdan provided the only spark for the home team when he lived up again to his reputation for scoring against big teams when he finished his effort with first touch following a nce threaded pass from "Ah Long"...