BoLASEPaKO•COM - A Blog on Singapore Football

(Media information by Football Association of Singapore ) SINGAPORE, 30 October 2009: After a winning performance at the Ho Chi Minh City International Tournament in Vietnam last week, Singapore will be looking to continue their good form when they play Indonesia on Wednesday 04 November 2009 at the National Stadium. With this match being the Lions’ final preparation before the all-important Asian Cup Qualification match against Thailand on 14 November, it is no surprise that National team coach Raddy will be scrutinising this game for the final tune-up. “The Lions had a successful campaign in the HCMC International Tournament last week, but we did not have the benefit of a full national team as some of the players were still playing in the Indonesian League. This friendly match against Indonesia is very important as it give the players the opportunity to play together, and also allow us to experiment with tactical variations. From there, I will then be able to select the best possible...

Referee Abdul Malik made a brave decision to carry on the match despite the heavy downpour (as pictured above) that started prior to the start of this live televised game. Frankly, this fixture would have been a title decider perfectly fit for this season's finale, but it wasn't the case after all. If not for that disastrous October which Tampines Rovers eventually blew their title hopes away. Still, given the storied feud between these two giants of Singapore football over the past few years, be it title-decider or not, SAFFC-Tampines promising an exciting encounter whenever they meet. SOME PICTURES FROM THE MATCH "Head or Tail?" as SAFFC won the toss to kick-off. Err guys, the ball is still with the referee... Khairul Amri did well to shackle Duric off the possession. Akihiro Nakamura prowled the flank. It's always so physical when these two meet. Tampines striker Qiu Li whizzed his way through with close attention from SAFFC's defenders Razaleigh Khalik and...

TTM warming-up before the game To be honest, it was already a damper prior to this returning fixture of this Singapore Cup semi-final between these two invited teams - Bangkok Glass and TTM Samut Sakorn. With a huge task ahead, it wasn't a surprise to write off the Smokers (TTM's nickname), as not many teams can do what the Portuguese did in 1966 World Cup against the North Korean, before the match started. Former Sengkang and Balestier striker Paul Bekombo (9) fine-tuning his skills Nonetheless, TTM started the match strongly by stretching the Glass Rabbits (Bangkok Glass' nickname) to the limit, right from the start. In the end of this see-saw battle, TTM walked away as the victors with a 4-3 victory that saw one player from each side being sent off by referee Sukhbir Singh in the second half. But it wasn't good enough for the Smokers as it will be the Glass Rabbits led by former Home United star J Surachai to face Geylang United on the same venue on 8th November. SOM...

(P.S: I wonder if some of the some young players out there agree with me the importance of staying put together, if possible.) After his team defeated Balestier Khalsa , Young Lions' coach Terry Pathmanathan (pictured above during the " Sultan of Selangor Cup 09 ") was not a happy man as you thought he would be. In the post-match media conference, the former national skipper remarked "some of the boys are getting big on their heads that they need a knock on it." In short, the ex-Tampines Rovers stalwart blasted his boys for not playing according to plan and making many unnecessary moves in the game. Young Lions' striker Khairul Nizam's (hidden by the fourth official) "over-the-top" goal celebration warranted an unnecessary yellow card in their recent match against Balestier. "During my time after I scored a goal, I get back to my position and game carry on." said coach Terry when asked if the "over-the-top" goal celebration...

The ban resulted that Brunei DPMM's participation in the S.League is null and void, despite written approval was sought at the start of the year from the world governing body on the team's participation. Part of DPMM's supporters at the League Cup Final At that point of time, DPMM, a BAFA associate who used to play in Malaysian League, found themselves in a wilderness after the Malaysians decided to pull the plug after BAFA was de-registered by Brunei's Registrar of Societies, which is not inclined with FIFA's stand of "non-interference from government" policy, so it was subsequently not recognized as the game governing body in the oil-rich sultanate. And so, when DPMM admitted into the league at the eleventh hour, the league authority thought with that perceived "iron-clad" written approval from Zurich, everything was fine until recently when things changed at FIFA congress when BAFA was officially banned. Suddenly, the league, already saddled w...

I would consider myself a SAFFC's jinx if they couldn't beat Sengkang Punggol at Jalan Besar Stadium just now, as I was in person to see their last two matches (against Gombak United and Super Reds),which they played below expectation, that would have allowed them to pop open the champagne. So third time lucky for the Warriors with their victory over the Dolphins at Jalan Besar Stadium, thus sealed their fourth consecutive league title and another shot to next year's ACL tournament. SOME PICTURES FROM THE MATCH SAFFC's John Wilkinson (10) and Abdoulaye Diallo (15) in an aerial duel. Sengkang defending a corner in second-half Lloyd Butler (37) made his late appearance in the match. SAFFC's coach Richard Bok (above) said his team wholeheartedly focused their mind on this game, barring any thought of DPMM's fate that would have decided their title quest before the kick-off. Sriwijaya-bound Aleksandar Duric (above) is confident of doing well in the physically-toughe...

PICTURE REMOVED DUE TO EMBARRASSMENT CAUSED TO PORTRAYED PARTY A "close-up" of this "Uncle" who is a regular at most games, renown for his ranting So this is the another "Uncle", other than that "Uncle Party-popper", whom I had been tracking down who he is, ever since I last filmed him at Toa Payoh Stadium many years back... CLIP REMOVED ON OWN INITIATIVE A passionate fan...indeed (minus those "colorful" languages, though) MY APOLOGY It is never the intention of this entry to cause any embarrassment to any individual, but as a reader ("Anonymous" who posted on 16th Oct 2009 at 11:13AM) pointed out this posting is an act of "degrading the fans who are just enjoying themselves" . Heeding that as an advice, I hereby would like to extend my sincere apology to any individual for any cause of disturbance and embarrassment derived from this entry and removed the picture and video clip from the entry at my own initiative. Al...

What can I say about this when I first saw this in the morning? To my surprise, even one of my maternal aunts can recalled some of the names of these legends when she revealed that during her courtship days with my uncle - going to catch the team in action was a common thing in their "pak-tor" days! An appreciation that came rather late or what? Why do we need someone who is critically ill, so suddenly, to make all of us remember the joy and happiness they had brought to us more than 30 years ago ?? The details of those players who achieved "god-like" status in those days were detailed in this special report by The Sunday Times (above), when there's a sudden surge of interest on them following that unfortunate incident last week at Jalan Besar Stadium. Joining the rest of those who are concern of his well-being, let's once again wish Mr Dollah a speedy recovery. UPDATE ON MR DOLLAH KASSIM'S CONDITION According to a source close to Mr Dollah Kassim, it r...

The general mindset of most local clubs officials and players is to keep "things within four walls" and it's not very often we see war-of-words trading across feuding parties to ensure the mood of solidarity in the local football fraternity (because of the "Code of Conduct" I guess). Personally, nothing wrong with that as nobody would want to see a WWE-styled reality show since the main product is the game itself. (Picture) How often you wonder who were players on the field? However, the lack of hype in the local scene also not in favour to itself as fans may find it a bit "routine-like" to turn out at games. So that was why I suggested earlier to get players to tell us more about themselves , nothing to extend to do some damages to one's reputation, but some snippets behind the scenes should start some interesting topics to discuss. Unfortunately, no one has taking up the idea (maybe they are not aware of it?) or would they rather stay out of lime...

The VVIPs admiring the trophy . Sometimes I have been wondering if this country is a nation of glory-hunters, that when things get tough people try to find an easy way out to avoid the calamity to be fallen on them? This legend who used to be feared by strikers in Asia for his tackling, can you tell who he is? I can't help but having that conclusion in the recent days when I tried to encourage some of my middle-aged colleagues to come down to see those footballing legends of the seventies who came together for the annual " Sultan of Selangor Cup ". You know the man in the middle now, but will your kids know who he is and importantly can you tell those two on his both sides? These are the lot who are still clamouring those wonderful days of the Malaysia Cup rivalry between Singapore and Selangor, and could easily roll out those names of those legendary players from their tongues. These guys were capable to pull in a full-house at Kallang in their heydays So there was this...