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71st SCC Rugby 7s @ Padang - 031118 A ball boy tossing the ball before the start of a game The SCC 7s is affectionally dubbed as the ‘Friendly Sevens’ and over the decades, legends like the late Jonah Lomu, New Zealand Rugby World Cup Sevens winning captain Eric Rush, All Blacks’ Hall of Famer Tana Umaga and South Africa’s former World Player of the Year Cecil Afrika graced the Padang on their ascendency to rugby stardom. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE MATCH PICTURES 71st SCC Rugby 7s @ Padang - 041118 "There is a card for you" The SCC 7s is affectionally dubbed as the ‘Friendly Sevens’ and over the decades, legends like the late Jonah Lomu, New Zealand Rugby World Cup Sevens winning captain Eric Rush, All Blacks’ Hall of Famer Tana Umaga and South Africa’s former World Player of the Year Cecil Afrika graced the Padang on their ascendency to rugby stardom. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE MATCH PICTURES AFF Suzuki Cup - Singapore 6-1

I am wondering if was it because we played both Mauritius (FIFA ranked 155th) and Fiji (165th) in our recent friendlies that the ridiculing of our football continues by some skeptics? DIFFERENT EXPOSURE Granted the fact that both the aforementioned countries are not known for their football powress with someone even thought it was a rugby match when we took on the Fijians last evening , the two virtually unknown sides did, however, give Singapore national team some much-needed workouts in preparing for the upcoming AFF Suzuki Cup. Baihakki Khaizan (5) restraining Fijian captain Roy Krishna Instead of the "usual who" kind of opponents, I thought it was a refreshing change to see games against teams which allowed the Lions to expose to some robust kind of football aided by the opponents' much superior physical frames. It was probably this kind of exposure that made a good introduction to a different level of football between the domestic and internati

Shahril Ishak roams into the box One snap (above) of Home United's Shahril Ishak like this in their recent Great Eastern Hyundai Singapore Premier League (SGPL) game against Hougang United should raise a concern about our chance in this year's AFF Suzuki Cup and the panic button should be pressed by now. WHY? First of all, take a look at this picture and what did you see? We have a free-roaming Shahril with his eyes on the ball making his way into the box in this attacking move. Any sane mind would be asking how could a veteran striker like him be given such a luxury of space by a backline? That was probably why Hougang's caretaker coach Clement Teo, seen in the background of this snap, gestured either to his back line to "watch out for Shahril!" or asked, " why no one is marking Shahril?" Eventually, both Justin Hui and Adam Mitter (who was released during the recent transfer window) arrived in time to keep the ex-JDT II skipper at bay.

Fandi Ahmad will take charge of the Suzuki Cup campaign It was a mere formality when the earlier press conference was called to announce Young Lions coach Fandi Ahmad as the man in charge of the Singapore National Team for the upcoming AFF Suzuki Cup campaign in November. This hastily-arranged media gathering more or less confirmed a Straits Times'  report that appeared days ago which suggested the former Singapore skipper “will hold the fort for the national team while the search continues for the coach who will lead the Lions on a permanent basis”. So when the panel that comprised Messrs Lim Kia Tong (FAS president), Edwin Tong (FAS vice-president), Yazeen Buhari (FAS Acting General Secretary), and Fandi, himself, took their seats before the start of the event, the awaiting media at the venue already knew what was on the agenda. Fandi spoke to the media after the presser “I am really excited about the new Suzuki Cup format,” said the one-time FC Groningen striker o

Years of involvement made me learn to adopt a precautionary stance on almost everything that came along as a way to buffer myself from disappointment. Even though I stick to that belief, it's no difference again when we are drawing close to another year with things ending sour again and no improvement to the scene when we thought it would at the start. Some painted a picture of optimism that our own S.League would gain from Lions XII's acrimonious exit from the Malaysian league with a large part of their playing staff, long perceived to be the best in the country, being snapped by various clubs in the beleaguered setup. Jermaine Pennant graced the league not long ago Furthermore, setting things into the groove saw big spending Tampines Rovers, under new chairman Krishna Ramachandra, acquired the biggest name in the league history by recruiting former Liverpool and Arsenal winger Jermaine Pennant , inked a partnership with Brazilian legend Ronaldinho to set

Coach Sundram (in blue jacket) facing the media To sum up the Singapore National Football Team's final warming up before heading off to Manila this coming Tuesday – to win the game, the feeling is great but to score a goal, it's bonus. The one-nil win over the visiting Cambodian national team at the Bishan Stadium was indeed a relief to everyone in the Lions setup whose preparation for the biennial regional showpiece – the AFF Suzuki Cup, hasn't been smooth sailing since national caretaker coach V Sundram moorthy took over back in May. With the most of the participating countries already confirmed their list of 23 for the tournament, the former Lions striker decided to buckle the trend by stated he will only do so when arrived in the Philippines in reply to a query from the media after the game. “I will only reveal when we are in Philippines,” said Coach Sundram during the post-match press conference on the to-be-finalized squad which is now trimmed to 24

Close to 25,000 watched the Causeway Challenge Honestly speaking, the recent Causeway Challenge fixture between Singapore and Malaysia shall go down to history as one of those anti-climax games in recent years. Apart from both teams used this friendly to finalize their preparation for the AFF Suzuki Cup next month, it always not uncommon to have both the Lions and Harimau (Tigers) trying to claim supremacy over each other since both went separate way in 1965. "DAMP SQUID" Any match featuring these two nations would usually wipe up those chest-pumping patriotism sentiments on both sides of the Causeway, but the mood during the run up to the match played last Friday at the iconic National Stadium at Kallang resulted a much mundane affair. Perhaps much of that "damp squid" ambience have to do with ongoing misfortune that plagued the football fraternities of both sides. (L-R) Coach Sundram and Malaysia's coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee One of those contr

This article first appeared as a posting on the blog's Facebook Page days before 2015 and it was written by Mr David Ng who called himself "an old friend of singapore football". With his permission I decided to reproduce the posting as a form of guest columnist piece and the first piece of the year. Coach Bernd Stange was given a lifeline recently  I am relief that (current national coach Bernd) Stange is given a chance to prove himself and his method. He credential and his achievement speak of who he is and is capable of achieving. It cannot be that he is successful elsewhere but suddenly he is a flop in Singapore. Otherwise, why would FAS after so many months of selection choose him. (Former national coach ) Raddy (Avramovic) has (Aleksandar) Duric, (Daniel) Bennett and a few others to help him. It is now up to the mentality of the players to professionally accept his style of training and play and get out of their comfort zone and learn new tactic

We are OUT and LOST the Cup .... Malaysia were clearly the more dominant side with their possession and fast closing up play that barely gave Singapore a breather in the first half. The absence of Shahdan Sulaiman in the engine room was pretty obvious with the Lions lacked the creative flow upfront to deem Khairul Amri a lonely figure facing Malaysian custodian Khairul Fahmi Che Mat in the box, as both Fazrul Nawaz and Faris Ramli on both flanks looked ineffective to prick open the stubborn wall of the visitors. Hariss  (right) shield the ball from "Mat Yo" Much credit to Hariss Harun whom Coach Stange made the right decision to keep him in the usual holding position to keep things checked in the midfield to lighten the load of the otherwise stretched Singapore defence. However, the game of football is all about scoring more goals than your opponents in order to win the game, which the Harimau Malaya did it just right to seal the night. And it proved to be a

Hariss's  brac e raised the roof of Kallang Singapore salvaged their AFF Suzuki Cup title-defending hopes with a nail-biting 4-2 win over Myanmar at Kallang last evening. Much of the talks before the game surrounded the White Angels' Serbian coach, Raddy Avramovic, for his familiarity with the team that were largely groomed by him for a near decade before he stepped down after leading the Lions to their fourth Asean title in 2012. It was probably that familiarity that had the Myanmarese came back strongly in the second half to narrow the gap to a goal deficit after trailing three-nil before the interval. As explained by Coach Raddy in the post-match media conference. "The plan was to keep Singapore off our field in the first half and attack them in the second," said the former Notts County custodian. "I thought we conceded three easy goals and with this result, we will have a difficult game against Thailand (this Friday) it's Christmas came ear

Hassan dived correctly but can't stop the Thais' winner It could not have been a worst possible start for the defending Asean football champions with a defeat in the hands of those they defeated two years ago to clinch that fourth title. But that twisted fate saw the reversal of the role with Singapore National Team, playing their first full international match in the new National Stadium, ended the night with a heart-breaking loss to Thailand on a 2-1 scoreline. A general consensus from several sectors concluded a draw would be a fair result for both, while some opinions suggested the War Elephants looked relatively raw and inexperienced (since a large part of the team are elevated from the recent Incheon Asian Games squad). A pretty even first half saw a keenly contested affair from both sides with some intensify attacking plays that saw the visitors pulled the first trigger in the ninth minute with a Prakit Deeprom's strike that riveted past Hassan Sunny but i