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

We read to widen not constraint our perspective The idea of sharing past occurrences of local football on this platform is to remind us what happened in the past and how those events should inspire us to do better. It is never meant to be a channel to allow certain groups or ideologies to claim superiority over other groups or beliefs. It has not been uncommon to see some lauded and immortalised the achievements of those many decades ago while belittling the efforts of those who did us proud in recent years. These thoughts came to me after I read a book recently in which a former national player lamented efforts by his club mates and himself in a continental tournament meant little significance to many fans who still basking in the glory of a domestic Cup competition which Singapore long associated in the past (need not for me to elaborate which Cup competition). This only tells us the parochial mindset that is etched in the mindset of some fans who still cannot let go of the past. Whi

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

Did you see the rainbow? Good day to all, Plenty of things happened over the last few days. ➡️ The resuming of the AIA Singapore Premier League. ➡️ The two-and-half-year partnership between Lion City Sailors and Borussia Dortmund. ➡️ Another Tampines Rovers player tested positive for the Covid19 after returning from the AFC Champions League campaign in Uzbekistan. ✅ ✅ The first two are, no doubt, some positives injected to the scene while, and hopefully, the infected Tampines players will get well soon 🙏. 🤒 From what I read, not only Tampines players are infected, six persons from Gamba Osaka and Frontale Kawasaki are infected as well. 🤒 Gamba reported having two players and two accompanied staff down with the virus, while Frontale non-playing staff were infected, according to Sohu, a China news portal. 🤦🏻‍♂️Although, it is regrettable to come across some nonsensical comments targeted at those infected Tampines players which clearly shown the lack of empathy towards anyone who is

Wonder if you understand why I am trying to say? Good Day to all, Posted this on IG Story days ago. It came after Tampines Rovers suffered a thrashing defeat in their ongoing AFC Champions League campaign that triggered a massive outcry on various social media sites. I decided not to post anything of that game as I felt no purpose in doing so when I did not watch the game and therefore not in the position to comment anything (I only saw the highlights later). Furthermore, if the post turned out to be another hotspot just to allow some to vent their frustrations like seen in some places, which might be escalated into something irrational, I think it would defeat the whole purpose of having this platform in the first place. Instead, I would rather share something that would be more beneficial in allowing others to appreciate and understand local football, such as historical stuff, etc. Last but not least, please kindly adhere to the "House Rules" when participating in any disc

Someone said I used the meme wrongly  Good Day to all, Just something spontaneous I shared this morning with those who subscribed to the platform's telegram channel . This evening is another historical moment in Singapore football and Tampines Rovers are due to make their debut in the AFC Champions League tournament. The Stags will be the second Singapore club after SAFFC to be featured in the elite continental club competition with veteran Daniel Bennett involving for the third time in his long illustrious career. Although the harsh reality is this noteworthy moment is being overshadowed by the ongoing Euro2020 with everyone's favourite match due to take place. But nonetheless, let's enjoy our football 😁 (image using Meme Generator ) - 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎'𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒍 -

"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

Erwan Gunawan (second from right) scored the winner The picture above is a snapshot of a historical moment for Singapore football. This was the moment when substitute striker Erwan Gunawan (second blue jersey player from the right) headed home the winning goal to give SAFFC and Singapore their first-ever victory in the continental elite club competition over China's Henan Jianye. John Wilkinson (center) started his first game for the Warriors  The Warriors' defense were not being stressed as compared to the last 2 ACL home outings. As compared to their last two outing at the Jalan Besar Stadium, Henan's cautious and possession type of football complemented the style of the Singapore representative, as both Suwon Samsung and Gamba Osaka duly punished the Warriors with their much superior swift mobility tactics. Daniel Bennett's strike in the 65th minute gave SAFFC the lead. Erwan Gunawan came on as a replacement for Indra Sahdan Probably because of that "ton

Teams lining up before the start PREVIEW We are heading towards the last home match of SAFFC's ACL campaign this coming Tuesday (5th of May) at the Jalan Besar Stadium.  It has not been a smooth ride for the defending S.League champions since their 5-0 defeat away to Kashima Antlers in the same tournament.  To add salt to the wounds, two successive losses to DPMM in Brunei last Sunday and Geylang United on Labour Day saw the Warriors being knocked off from the top of the league standings and out of the RHB Singapore Cup respectively.  Indeed, this is something very rare for a team like SAFFC to go through this kind of ordeal.  The ACL has been an eye-opener for the club (if not the whole local football fraternity), as they are being exposed to the harsh reality of a higher-pace and more dynamic style of football.  But with the Cup already out of their grasp, the Warriors need to know they need to recover fast mentally to remain in their hunt to defend their league title.   AFT