I was not at Bugis Junction this afternoon to witness the draw of the annual RHB Singapore Cup competition, but managed to gather some feedback from the tweets and timeline in between my work.
With the pulling out of Australia's South Melbourne FC (pictured above) due to its congested fixture back home, their place was taken up by another foreign side in the form of Yotha FC from Laos (which was only made known officially this afternoon).
The first time inclusion of a Laotian side into this local premier cup competition meaning a total of 16 teams from EIGHT different countries will be featured in this knock-out tournament scheduled to kick off in May.
Huge expat turnout will be expected when both Loyola Meralco Sparks (featuring the Younghusband brothers - Phil and James) of the Philippines and Burma's KBZ FC (led by former national coach Mr PN Sivaji) when they take on Geylang United and Woodlands Wellington respectively, gauging from recent attendances when teams from these two countries played.
Some fans like Hougang United fan Mervin Tan shared his thoughts on the foreign involvement on the blog FB page.
Said the private tutor:"To be honest, I am excited about the high standards of the Singapore Cup,
"But it'll really sad if one of the foreign teams wins it, because it'll deprive the S.League of one AFC Cup slot next season and opportunities for Singapore football to excel at a higher level of Asian football."
Furthermore, with a huge composition of teams from the Asean region this season, could it be suggested that this would be another "test water" exercise for the much-touted "Asean Super League" that had long been on the agenda?
Only time again will tell ...
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE DRAW OF THE CUP.
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| The Hellas wouldn't be coming |
The first time inclusion of a Laotian side into this local premier cup competition meaning a total of 16 teams from EIGHT different countries will be featured in this knock-out tournament scheduled to kick off in May.
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| "Girls!! James is coming back to Singapore!!" |
Some fans like Hougang United fan Mervin Tan shared his thoughts on the foreign involvement on the blog FB page.
Said the private tutor:"To be honest, I am excited about the high standards of the Singapore Cup,
"But it'll really sad if one of the foreign teams wins it, because it'll deprive the S.League of one AFC Cup slot next season and opportunities for Singapore football to excel at a higher level of Asian football."
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| Bangkok Glass was the first foreign side to win Singapore Cup in 2010 |
Only time again will tell ...
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE DRAW OF THE CUP.
Disappointed not to be in the tournament this year, but notification was left very late.
ReplyDeleteNo worries Paul... hope to see SMFC (and you)in town soon...
DeleteFAS really likes the foreign presences in our domestic competitions.
ReplyDeleteFAS should understand that S League and Singapore Cup is our DOMESTIC competitions and no foreign teams should be allowed to participate. Our case is different from Welsh teams in English Leagues, Canadian teams in USA League and New Zealand teams in Australian league! And our league is the ONLY league that invites foreign teams to play!
I always maintain this is a platform to "test water" for the proposed Asean Super league (ASL) in which a cosmopolitan mix in a must to see if it's feasible.
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