BoLASEPaKO.COM - A Blog on Singapore Football

No time to waste on searching for Coach Yoshida's replacement No point in crying over a cup of spilled milk when the utmost task for the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) is to seek an immediate replacement for outgoing Tatsuma Yoshida as the Singapore National Team Head Coach. As mentioned in the press release announcing the Japanese tactician's departure after steering the Lions to the AFF Suzuki Cup semis for the first time since 2012, the FAS "will commence with the search for a permanent replacement for Tatsuma in January 2022" in order to prepare for the third and final round of qualification for the Asian Cup in next June After all, have we not learned from the past that dragging their feet in naming a replacement for the national coach would have a detrimental effect. Even if a permanent replacement is not possible in time, getting someone on an interim basis should be one option to ensure the preparation for the Asian Cup qualifiers not be disrupted ...

Almost every day when I woke up, I always asked myself what can BoLASEPaKO.com do to help Singapore football? Honestly speaking, I didn't see myself asking that question when I set up my first version of the platform using a free website provider back in December 1996.  The special "Juli Perak" logo will complete its mission soon After all, the nucleus of this platform is to allow me to share my views on local football after I was, all of a sudden, repeatedly denied from posting my views on an online forum. Furthermore, the updating of the site was done from a public terminal, which was subjected to availability, and maintaining its consistency was a challenge, as compared to these days when it can be done easily on the move. I would say the breakthrough came in October 2005 when I decided to switch to the present format by using the online blogging tool for archival purposes instead of continuing of utilizing the now-defunct online website provider. Thus, it is most unfo...

Plenty of blunders were made in the official tournament programme of AFF Suzuki Cup 2020, according to a friend of mine. In a series of text messages, my friend highlighted these mistakes with illustrations forwarded for my reference. "TWO-LEGGED" ONLY STARTED IN 2004 On the "Roll of Honour' page of the programme (as illustrated), said my friend: "From 2004 , the knockout stage is played over two legs on a home-and-away format.", pointed out using those emojis on the glaring mistakes made such as wrongly listed Singapore beat Vietnam "on aggregate" to win her first international honour - the Tiger Cup in 1998 . "My friend" claimed this was a 1997 SEA Games team photo The next things being singled out were the wrong Singapore team photo used in introducing the tournament history and the name of the tournament. "(It was the) wrong (Singapore team) photo used on 1996 First ever “AFF Suzuki Cup”, (it) should be (called the) Tiger Cup. I...

An IG poll was conducted to see how many noticed this poster There is some marketing buzz going on for the upcoming AFF Suzuki Cup though I am not sure how many noticed this banner while strolling along this busy walkway of Bishan MRT station? Not that far away from this station is Bishan Stadium - the venue for most of the Group B matches. One thing to take note of is the stadium is installed with a new natural grass surface (picture below) which I had a look at recently from the nearby Bishan Sports Hall. Being a surface that was only laid not that long ago, not sure if it is able to withstand the robustness of the team like the Vietnamese who are known for their pace. (maybe someone with some horticultural knowledge can answer that)? Will Vietnam thrive on this new surface? In the meantime, the delay in the announcement of the ticketing and broadcasting details caused some anxieties among the local fans during the run-up to the biennial showpiece. Yet when the ticketing details we...

The name is fixed? (created using meme generator ) After months of anticipation, we are given some updates on the Unleash The Roar! (UTR!) project days ago. When I first read about it, my main concern would be the sustainability of those ten School Football Academies (SFAs) schools (ie: resources like financial, manpower, etc.) which are the cornerstones of the update. Are we getting full support from the Ministry of Education (MOE) on the setting up of these SFA schools? Let's hope so, especially it seems to me past blueprints like "Goal 2010" did not have the backing of the educators. Besides MOE who must wholeheartedly support the "SFA" concept, I think to convince the parents of this UTR! is a viable project is equally important too. Parentage support is important to UTR! While it seems that the UTR! received a booster with Borussia Dortmund (BvB) and LaLiga coming on board as strategic partners , there are concerns of the roles to be played by them wh...

AFC U23 Qualifiers - Philippines 0-1 Singapore 281021 "Hey, ref! Look!" A wondering strike from outside the box by Glenn Kweh was enough to keep Singapore U22's hopes alive in the ongoing AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualifier, as the Cubs beat the Philippines 1-0 last evening(28/10).  The 21-year-old took his chance well before unleashing a piledriver with his left foot in the 51st minute to spark celebrations among the crowds at the Jalan Besar Stadium. It was Kweh's second goal of the campaign after he scored the first goal in the Cubs' opener against Timor Leste. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE MATCH PICTURES AFC U23 Qualifiers - South Korea 5-1 Singapore 311021 Nur Adam scored the consolation against the Koreans The match against their South Korean counterparts was almost like a dead rubber for the Singapore U22 squad, after the preceding tie saw Timor-Leste beat the Philippines in the AFC U23 Asian Cup Qualifiers last evening (31/10) at the JBS. It all got...

Lion City Sailors - 2021 SPL champions (credit: FAS) 😶 It is not unusual to see transfer speculations surfaced right after the season is over, and already we read about newly-minted champions Lion City Sailors (pictured, credited FAS) linked to several high profile foreign players in their bid to assemble a squad capable to put up a decent performance in next season's AFC Champions League (ACL). ❌ Nothing wrong with that, especially we wouldn't want to see a repeat of that woeful Tampines Rovers' ACL campaign that eventually led to a premature end of their SPL title campaign. 💰 And more importantly, we know the financial muscles of the Sailors and some detractors of theirs are worrying they have already begun to turn SPL into a one-horse race.   LCS Coach Kim Do-hoon won the ACL in 2020 (issued by LCS) 🔍The challenge will be in what way the rest of the league can innovate in other means besides money to complete with Sailors, rather than sit at one corner to lick...

People of my generation might have heard of him but were too young to realize who he was when he was playing. Let alone those millennials or Generation Z who might think "Mat Noh" is just a random name of someone around them. It is something we cannot pinpoint at anyone if many young people these days have not heard the names of Mat Noh and his contemporaries who wowed this island republic in the 1970s. The 1977 Singapore National Team is still revered by many to this day ** Simply because many former players have stayed out of the media limelight after they hung up their boots that it is no surprise, some might not realize who are they if they happened to stand in front or next to a former national player. SAD THAT ONLY REALIZED WHO THEY WERE WHEN THEY GONE It is a sad thing that whenever former star players like Mat Noh pass on, we only get to read articles in the newspapers and discussions on social media reminiscing the achievements they had in their heydays, other than...

A picture of a goalkeeper (as credited) Just a quick thought of what I saw at the Lion City Sailors - Balestier Khalsa game that had the Sailors walked away with a victory and the Singapore Premier League (SGPL) title. Sadly, in this game, we witnessed some poor goalkeeping that gifted the newly-minted champions those decisive goals which could have been avoided if better reading and judgment were there in the first place. Like one veteran coach who once told me "'keeper's territory is six-yard and outside that area would be the defenders" and with that belief, it bemused me what was going through the mind of the 'keeper whose poor judgment eventually led to Gabriel Quak netted LCS' fourth goal and helped to uncork the champagne for celebration. Lion City Sailors - 2021 SGPL champions (credit: FAS) Furthermore, the lack of commanding presence in his six-yard led to the second goal scored by Sailors in the first half and he seems to have the audacity to ask...

1) I never utilize the "story" function available on Instagram until June last year when I posted my first "story" in June 2020. As I used to think why should I bother to post something which only lasts for 24 hours. It was only after I posted my first poll in November 2021 and realized how useful it is to solicit feedback and understand the ground's sentiments on various issues on local football. Like this poll, I conducted to find the fans' preferred mode to watch their AIA Singapore Premier League matches. A marginal majority preferred at the stadium 2) This recent poll was meant to be a tongue-in-cheek attempt to gauge how was the response seemed to be one-sided, and Shopee did reply after I tagged them in this story. I never expect Shopee would reply after I posted this 3) On a serious note, this poll was conducted right after the draw of the AFF Suzuki Cup which is scheduled to take place in Singapore at the end of the year. And seems like many are ...

 Lions Training 010921  Coach Yoshida led by example in the Lions' training  National Coach Tatsuma Yoshida called up 22 locally-based players for a series of training sessions during the FIFA international window. The training sessions saw the newcomers in the likes of Song Ui-young of Lion City Sailors and Hougang United's Afiq Noor. The sessions also saw the return of skipper Hariss Harun alongside Faritz Hameed, Jacob Mahler and Geylang International's Amy Recha whose last call-up was back in July 2016. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE PICTURES SGPL - Tampines Rovers 2-1 Young Lions 180921 Balancing act by Baihakki Khaizan Tampines Rovers had to work their socks off till the end to ensure they finally snapped their six-game winless streak by beating a resilient Young Lions 2-1 last evening (18/9) at Our Tampines Hub. Zehrudin Mehmedović gave the Stags the lead before half-time that was cancelled out by the spot-kick from Young Lions' skipper Jacob Mahler in...

39th FAS Annual Congress (picture credit: FAS) The following are some of the key points mentioned in the 39th Football Association of Singapore (FAS) Annual Congress . A) From the 2022 Singapore Premier League (SPL) season onwards, the fielding of one Under-23 (U23) player instead of three in the starting lineup. B) No limit on the number of U23 players registered in each SPL squad. C) Young elite leagues to resume in the 2022 season (subject to prevailing circumstances). D) FAS will "put in a strong and determined bid to host" AFF Suzuki Cup . I thought the biggest takeaways would be points (A) and (C) , especially for the former that head coaches would not find themselves in a constrained situation and give more flexibility to field their ideal XI. The move to revive the youth elite leagues is a good one and hopefully, we can see a conduit in place to allow proper progression than having a fast-tracking mode that saw more teenage players in a top-tier league in this s...

I believe those in their fifties and above would know who Mat Noh (Mohd Noh bin Hussain) was. Nicknamed "Allan Clarke" of local football, the good-looking striker was a heartthrob to many ladies fans and wowed many with his dazzling skills on the field during his heydays in the 1970s when starring for the national team in their Malaysia Cup exploits that ignited the "Kallang Roar" era. Mat Noh passed away at the age of 67 But how many who were born in the 1980s actually know him or his contemporaries and those who were born in the late 1970s might be too young to know who they were until they read about them in newspapers, etc.? And because of such ignorance, it led to one unsavoury incident that triggered one uproar that a late former national player was not properly accoladed on the night when he should at the closing ceremony of the old National Stadium (I shall not dwell on this incident, just go and Google it, as it still left a bitter taste on my tongue whenev...

It used to cost $5 for more than a decade Years ago, before an S.League game between SAFFC and Etoile FC at Jalan Besar Stadium, I met someone I know just outside the ground, along King George Avenue, and had this brief conversation (as below). Acquaintance: "Do you have a free ticket?" as he was aware of my involvement in the scene. Me: "Nope, I don't have it" Acquaintance: "Cannot be, last time my who worked as a photographer, always have free tickets to matches" Me: "Time changes as different people are calling the shots now." A scene like this is not uncommon, but it is already becoming an annoying problem which I attributed to the liberal policy of giving complimentary entry that led to this kind of problem. A League Cup match played at Jalan Besar Stadium Perhaps, in the first place, such goodwill was to gather more awareness by offering free admission to fans to certain games. But the dangerous part of this giveaway has developed into ...

Good day to all, Would not want to embroil in some of those emotionally charged debates which are meaningless unless tangible actions are taken to put all those nonsense to stop once and for all than being used as a channel to vent those frustrations. On that "one particular topic", I would like to ask - at the end of the day, what is the message we try to bring across especially to those kids Is it meaning to say in the end, you will be forgiven after you served your punishment as if it is an "entitlement" for what you have been through when the key is to prevent anyone from doing the wrong thing at the very beginning? And let us not forget our government has strict laws on matters pertaining to "that thing" and there shall not be compromise on that. That will be my final and last comment on "that issue" And last but not least, all the best to Siti Rosnani Azman who is embarking on her new football journey when she will begin her professional c...