BoLASEPaKO.COM - A Blog on Singapore Football

 ACL2023 - Lion City Sailors 2-0 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 081123 Lion City Sailors upset Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Lion City Sailors caused an upset at home when they defeated two-time AFC Champions League winners Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC 2-0 at JBS. Curaçao international Richairo Zivkovic was the hero of the night for his brace (23‎'‎, 55‎') in the game. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE MATCH PICTURES Singapore Cup Final - Lion City Sailors 3-1 Hougang United 091223 Lionel Tan (left) and Zharfan Rohaizad savour the joy Lion City Sailors secured their first Singapore Cup title by defeating last year's winners Hougang United 3-1 at the Jalan Besar Stadium. Both Lionel Tan (left) and Zharfan Rohaizad savour the moment of joy after the match. This is Lionel's back-to-back winners' medal, he won the Cup last year, ironically, with Hougang United. Scorers: Richairo Živković pen. 27’, Maxime Lestienne 42’, Shawal Anuar 81’ | Kazuma Takayama 90’+1 PLEASE CLICK HERE T...

This souvenir program Alas, how time flies – 1987 was the year this handbook was published by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), and to serve as a guide to Singapore's Malaysia Cup campaign that year. It was given to me by an aunt of mine more than 30 years ago when I was a primary school kid. I remember the idea behind the original blog post before repurposed to this present form was because I was asked by a friend if I got pictures featuring Singapore national team from the yesteryears. A sense of nostalgic sentiment flows as I flipped through the pages and was pretty shocked to see Fandi Ahmad playing against us (only to realize that he was earning a living as a professional footballer turning out for Federal Territory (FT) later Kuala Lumpur FA). The Lions of 1987 The centerfold of the souvenir magazine is the team photo taken at the old National Stadium. Mr Wong Kan Seng's message Former Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng was the then Minister for Community Dev...

Why are we repeating? I have to be brutally honest on this - I really see no point in coming up with this year's "Annual Review" when most of the stuff that I going to talk about are mere repetitions all along. YOUNG LIONS Seems like much of what happened in the past twelve months stayed largely status quo with the Young Lions remaining bottom at the Singapore Premier League (SPL) table for another year. To make things worse when the bulk of the Young Lions that formed the SEA (South East Asian) Games squad got hammered 7-0 by arch-rivals Malaysia  (highlights below from Mediacorp Youtube channel ), it triggered a massive public outrage on how things went bad to worse. The above-mentioned coupled with that disastrous AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup outing months earlier did little help but more damage to the beleaguered sport which used to be a focal point of the nation in the long-gone past. CONVENIENCE SOURCE FOR MEME Instead, local football relegated itself to be a sour...

I met up with a reader who emailed me shortly after I posted the piece on the Metro 20th Anniversary Tournament back in March. In his email, he mentioned he has a copy of a magazine that included some write-ups and pictures from those matches played in the 1977 quadrangular. I visited his abode after accepting his invitation to take a look at the said magazine. The magazine turned out to be "Asian Soccer" with the late Mohd Noh , in action wearing the legendary Admiral blue outfit, fronting the August 1977 cover. The feature on the Metro 20th Anniversary Tournament (Asian Soccer) The features of the Metro Tournament were incorporated in that above-mentioned magazine which consisted of a picture of the trophy of the competition on the same page that included a team photo of Yugoslavian titans Red Star Belgrade , one of the four participants of the quadrangular. "UNJUSTIFIED" AND "NOT IMPRESSED" The first page of the aforementioned included the starting par...

Many motorists would be forgiven if that unassuming small stadium located next to the huge SAFRA clubhouse failed to grab their attention when they drove past it after entering Toa Payoh from the westbound Pan Island Expressway (PIE). OFTEN FORGOTTEN OBSCURITY After all, the awkward positioning of that above-mentioned brutalist arena along the busy Lorong 6 stretch does no favour to help any random visitor to have a clear visible sight of it when there is a car park in front of it. The brutalist facade of Toa Payoh Stadium Nonetheless, the 3,800-capacity Toa Payoh Stadium has a special place in local sporting folklore for being part of the then newly erected Toa Payoh Sports Complex which served as a venue for competition and training of the 1973 SEAP Games - the first major sporting event hosted by the then newly-independent Republic of Singapore. PELE VISITED TOA PAYOH STADIUM IN 1974 It was also this stadium that etched its presence in Singapore football when the legendary Pele c...

International Friendly - Singapore 3-1 Chinese Taipei 120923 Lionel Tan (9) scored again for Singapore  Singapore ended their winless streak by beating Chinese Taipei 3-1 at the Bishan Stadium. The victory was even sweeter for the Lions, as this was their first victory over the Blue Wings after losing back-to-back in their previous meetings. Scorers: Ange Samuel Kouame 29' | Song Uiyoung 42' (P), Lionel Tan 65', Shawal Anuar 82' PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE PICTURES SGPL - Albirex Niigata (Singapore) 5-0 Hougang United 160923 Albirex Niigata (Singapore) - SPL champions 2023  It wasn't an ideal result for Hougang United Football Club who must quickly regroup themselves from this crushing defeat by Albirex Niigata FC Singapore before they begin their AFC Cup campaign in days to come. The reigning champions were presented the Singapore Premier League trophy shortly after a show of appreciation to both Tadanari Lee and Hyrulnizam Juma'at whom both will...

It did not take me long to hit the button when I came across the autobiography of Derek Currie - "When ‘Jesus’ Came to Hong Kong: The remarkable story of the first European football star in Asia" on Amazon after I read about the publishing of it months before. LURE TO HONG KONG BECAUSE OF PELE In 1970, Currie signed for Ian Petrie 's Hong Kong Rangers alongside fellow Scots Jackie Trainer and Walter Gerrard with the promise of facing the great Pele in months to come when Santos going to visit the then British crown colony. Derek Currie (left) with the legendary Pele  The signing of the Scottish trio on professional basis by a Hong Kong club, let alone an Asian club, was unheard of in this part of the world during that era and it was no wonder their arrival at the old Kai Tak Airport caused a bit of media frenzy. In spite of Hong Kong's diminutive size, it has always fascinated me how Hong Kong football was the first to have a professional football league in Asia (...

SGPL - Balestier Khalsa 4-2 Young Lions 120723 Emmeric Ong (striped jersey) of Balestier Khalsa shared a light moment It was a "mere formality" to see this outcome day in and day out, and we wouldn't know when this would end. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE MATCH PICTURES Tiger Cup match between THFC and LCS of SFOF23 (25-260723) England skipper Harry Kane at National Stadium Here are the snaps taken during the "Tiger Cup" match of the Singapore Festival of Football Driven by CDG Zig (SFOF23) between Tottenham Hotspur and Lion City Sailors on 26/7 at National Stadium and the day before when Spurs held their open training session at National Stadium. Nope, Harry Kane did not play his match for Spurs in Singapore. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE MATCH PICTURES SFOF23/SCST2023 - Liverpool 4-0 Leicester City 300723 Liverpool skipper Virgil Van Dijk plotting his next move Liverpool got down to work straight away with a 4-0 win over former EPL side...

Two events in recent days prompted me to jot this note - the Singapore Cup and Tampines Rovers failed to qualify for the AFC Cup . The premier knockout tournament will see the nine teams from the Singapore Premier League (SPL) split into two groups with 5 teams in Group A and the rest in Group B. STAGS FAILED TO QUALIFY FOR A SPOT IN THE AFC CUP  In the meantime, Tampines Rovers found themselves being denied a spot in the continental tournament which they would easily qualify to the knock-out stages in the past when they were beaten 3-2 by Phnom Penh Crown of Cambodia in the qualifying play-off. Stags' coach Gavin Lee faced criticism after failing to qualify for the AFC Cup Ironically, Phnom Penh Crown was one of the many regional invitees in the past to play in the Singapore Cup competition. The above-mentioned tournament, at one point, was dubbed the "Asean Friendship Invitational" because of the participation of club sides from the neighbouring countries. OTHER PRO...

HAD KANE PLAY HIS LAST GAME FOR SPURS? THFC 5-1 LCS (26/7) Supposedly to bill as "Jose Mourinho Derby" - a match that never materialised which resulted in having local side Lion City Sailors (LCS) as a late replacement for AS Roma following the decision by the Italians to scrap their Far East tour . Should it have taken place, it would be quite a spectacle to see the Portuguese tactician, who is now in charge of Roma, facing his former employers who sacked him in April 2021 . England captain Harry Kane (second from right) played his last game for Spurs? But the gloss was definitely on England captain Harry Kane when he could have possibly led Tottenham Hotspur out of the tunnel for the last time as Spurs skipper when they took on LCS at the National Stadium. Spurs coach Ange Postecoglou gave no comment when asked about his talisman's status during the media conference prior to his side's open training session a day before the match, according to various sources. ...