BoLASEPaKO.com - A Blog on Singapore Football

Khairul Amri (19) gave Lions the lead in 61st It is obvious that Singapore national team coach Bernd Stange will be heavily involved in the preparation for the upcoming SEA Games with the remaining matches in ongoing Asian Cup qualifiers are served as tuning up process. Naming seven players with Games eligibility in the starting lineup in their 2-1 win over Syria, therefore, came no surprise when he mentioned earlier the "first test" to prove his "passing-and-dominating" theory will be in the biennial regional meet . Shafiq Ghani (center) helping out in defence Safuwan Baharudin (21) kept things tidy at back That notion was confirmed right immediately after the Lions' victory at the Jalan Besar Stadium on the night that saw Khairul Amri and Gabriel Quak put their names on the scoresheet against the Middle-Easterners. "It'll be the SEA Games," said the 65-year-old coach in reply to the first question fielded by the media in the

Coach Bernd Stange (right) facing criticism lately Bracing the brickbats thrown at his direction following string of unconvincing results by the Singapore national team of late, national coach Bernd Stange remains defiant. Speaking to the media before the start of the Lions' training session at the Jalan Besar Stadium, the 65-year-old German coach insisted his "passing-and-dominating" philosophy is the trend of world football these days. "First, I have to correct that this is not Bernd Stange style of football, as this is how football is now played on international level with passing at high speed." stressed ex-Belarus coach on his theory that is the gauge of football nowadays. "We must see this process as a long term one and not something we can do in five months time." he added. Adam Swandi has been prominent in Stange's plan A defeat in the penultimate showdown against the Syrians on this coming Tuesday will see the reigning Ase

Bernd Stange's competitive start as the Singapore national coach hit a snag with a 2-0 loss to Oman in the Asian Cup Qualifiers at the Jalan Besar Stadium. Two goals in the first half well deemed enough for the Middle-easterners to bag all three bags to ease the burden of their coach Paul Le Guen following their failure to qualify for the World Cup earlier. Qasim Said (2nd from right) scored the first goal Fifteen minutes into play saw Qasim Said making inroads from the right into the Lions fortress before unleashing a low drive past Izwan Mahbud to give the visitors the lead. The Omanis doubled their tally before the end of the first half with a well-taken shot from outside through Eid Al-Farsi to put the game beyond doubt for the jaded hosts. Safuwan Baharudin (21) head to head with Abdul Aziz (9) Lions were struggling to contain the Omanis' swift plays The Lions tried to play the "passing-and-dominating" type of game the German tactician has be

Coach Stange (right) preaches "passing" game The Singapore national football team begun their preparation for the crucial AFC Asian Cup qualifiers against Oman this evening at the Jalan Besar Stadium. From today onwards, the Lions will come together for the preparation training before the centralized training begins on the 10th of August. Other than those being involved in their club duties, most of the 23 players reported to the session led by coach Bernd Stange with the late omission of Tampines Rovers defender Shaiful Esah who is replaced by Warriors FC's Zulfadli Zainal Abidin due to an injury sustained on his right knee cartilage (according to the FAS media release). Players involved in last night's "Uniform Derby" did part of their recovery Players are responding well in the training Much of the training emphasized on the passing game the ex-Iraq national coach trying to preach to his team and the German coach is pleased that t

(This entry is formulated based on the media release issued by the Football Association of Singapore ) Prayers answered - Fadhil is named in Stange's squad To be officially named in National Team Head Coach Bernd Stange's first competitive match against Oman in the upcoming AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, should bring some smiles to Hougang United's custodian Fadhil Salim, following that painful quarter-final exit from the Singapore Cup last Friday against Balestier Khalsa. Long touted to be a national team material by the Hougang supporters, the calling up of the 30-year-old custodian would be a much-needed cheer for the Cheetahs who are experiencing a poor campaign so far. However, the former Gombak United 'keeper knows that it will be a tough battle with the competition from Lions XII's Izwan Mahbud and Hassan Sunny of Warriors fighting for the right to stand in between the sticks on 14th of August. Balestier's Qiu Li is eager to prove his critics wr

It's never right for me to comment on anything when I never see the game for myself and had to depend much on the match reports and reviews following the 4-0 defeat to the Jordanians in the Asian Cup Qualifiers in Amman. In its assessment of the game shown live online via “xinmsn” , online portal Football OPOD wote: ”In the space of eight weeks since the Lions’ regional success, it appeared in the tame 0-4 surrender to the 2011 Asian Cup quarter-finalists that they had returned whatever they had been taught in dealing with Middle East opponents back to Avramovic.” The same report also highlighted interim coach V Sundramoorthy's much criticized defensive approach that he used so often in his Lions XII campaign, in spite of having much balanced squad as compared to those he led in the Malaysian campaign. Such an approach was also mentioned by TODAY newspaper when it mentioned: ”... the gulf in class showed as Jordan made camp in the Singapore half throughout most of the

The "Dazzler" - V Sundramoorthy was named the interim Lions coach  Let's not kid ourselves here and we know what is really going on, unless you are really out of touch. Don't get me wrong here that while the Lions done us proud in regaining the ASEAN football supremacy last December under tight circumstances, it did not bring us any closer within the likes of South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan, etc. At least for now, it will never, given the wide gulf of standard between the South East Asian region and the "big boys" of Asian football. Just like when we beat Malaysia in the pre-World Cup qualifiers play-off and earned us a spot in the group stages that ended empty-handed in the end , it was only the Suzuki Cup victory that restored that bit of respect from the public after months of wilderness coupled with skepticism. Sundram (left) stood in for Raddy during the WCQ 2014 qualifiers With Lions XII coach V Sundramoorthy taking over the helm as

Eleven Singapore players will not only carry the hope of the nation, but also with one aim to prove a point. The point to prove that, despite their physical disabilities, they are still able to enjoy the beautiful game like their able-bodied peers when they are set to take on teams from Iran, Australia and others that included the host nation, United Arab Emirates in the first Dream Asia Cerebral Palsy (CP) Tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Coach Zai (wearing cap) briefs his team in one of the sessions However, given the absence of sizable playing pool to select from, coach Zainudeen Hassan have to rely on the squad of players he have with him for the past three years for this inaugural continental-wide tournament. Said Coach Zai, as he is commonly called, in an email interview with this blog:"There is a lack of publicity, general awareness for disability sports in Singapore." in highlighted some of the problems he facing. "Every

"Status-quo" and that's for sure In his own words, has Mr Zainudin Nordin, the president of the Football Association of Singapore acknowledged the "lack of critical mass in key areas such as talent pool and resources" that "there is still a pressing need for us to continue having foreign teams participating in our league"? My only reaction is - How ironic can it be as it was only just yesterday when I blogged about "THE CHANCE" talent global search and saw for myself some of the raw talents being unearthed from the weekend and amateur scenes with whom some S.League clubs, I was told, are keen to "follow up" with them. Yet, the decision based on what is quoted in this source  is not doubted a regrettable one, as many fans out there perceived it as a way to accommodate the foreigner-based teams in our league. While Mr Zainudin mentioned in his letter to the AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam that " having foreign te

One of the aims of this blog is to expand its coverage beyond the S.League into the continental level, which I'm glad to say that I managed to fulfil that task as an obscure blogger. Just as people tend to see the glamour side of these continental tournaments (i.e.:the Asian Champions League and the second-tier AFC Cup), I thought it would be an eye-opener to take a look behind the scene of running the events, which is an arduous task for those who were involved. THE ACCESS PASS... (Picture above) Colour code of various type of passes and bibs were clearly illustrated on this glass panel. Credit to this volunteer whose task was to sort these passes. Being prided as the top-two continental tournaments, it's inevitable that the organizers - the AFC and the relevant local sub-organizers would have various pass issued to those involved behind the scene. From the AFC officials, players, coaches, team officials to the media, security, ball boys and even cleaners were being given a p