The Lion City Cup Trophy |
I will not comment on the performance of the team that represented Singapore in the recently concluded Lion City Cup (LCC) tournament, as I did not watch any of the four matches played in the competition that helped to inspire the creation of the FIFA U16 World Cup in 1985.I remembered the first LCC I watched was the 1991 edition in which the final I witnessed an impressive Myanmar U16 defeated their Singapore counterparts at the Toa Payoh Stadium which was packed to the rafters.
I witnessed a Singapore victory years later when they beat Hong Kong 1-0 at the old Jalan Besar Stadium in 1995.
The blogger took part in the 2011 LCC draw (picture credit: Red Card) |
I had the honour to draw Juventus U16 squad to Group A which comprised of their Newcastle United counterparts and the Singapore U15 squad in the 2011 tournament (as pictured above).
Since 2015, including the recent editions of 2023 and the recently concluded tournament won by J1 League club Tokyo Verdy, the competition has turned into a four-team format, which I believe it did little to enhance the usefulness of the tournament that churned out numerous talented players who went on to represent Singapore at the senior level.
Instead of the knock-out format that has been used since the 2015 edition, where the two losing teams compete in a 3rd/4th place match, some have suggested introducing a round-robin tournament. This format would allow all teams to play against each other, with the team accumulating the most points being declared the winning side.
The round-robin format appears to be a more practical option if the LCC is to continue as a four-team tournament in the coming years.
- 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎'𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒍 -
Yes...agree with u.
ReplyDeleteA round robin format with the top 2 playing in the finals, for me.
Just a waste, our cubs missed the opportunity to play against a team like Tokyo Verdy.
Another decision by FAS that baffles me is the choice of making it a U16 tournament this year, which deprived last year's U14 team of playing in this year's edition.
100% agree. adds excitement to the cup as well.
ReplyDeleteJust FYI, the late Mr Franklin Miranda was the gentleman in the main picture, Mr Miranda served in various roles in his long association with local football.
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