BoLASEPaKO.com - A Blog on Singapore Football

How frustrated can it be again? Despite all the hindrances facing the National Under-23 squad in their preparation for the upcoming SEA Games, the local game authority boldly set a "final" target for the Cubs. Nothing wrong with being ambitious, as it departs from the usual modest target to settle for a "semi-final" in the biennial games even if we had our best squad in the past capable of the elusive gold. Yet, the biggest bugbear facing the team to be led by FAS Technical Director Slobodan Pavkovic is the high number of players being enlisted for the mandatory National Service (NS). Hariss Harun (14) in action for Lions  Already several boys found themselves crippled by the ruling, notably Hariss Harun (pictured above middle) and Safuwan Baharudin (pictured above right) - two of the star performers in the ongoing fading World Cup qualifiers. As a result of it, Hariss was not able to feature in several key matches. All these after fruitless negotiating

The 25th SEA Games logo (via Wikipedia ) PREVIEW Just as people thought the youngest ever Cubs were moving on the right track by emerged from their group stages in the recently SEA Games campaign, they were dealt with a lesson they would never forget - the harsh reality of the pace and the depth in technicality of today's football. Indeed, it will be remembered as face-saving outing for this squad of average 19.5 year-old as they met the target of being one of the semi-finalists in the biennial sporting fiesta, but let's hope whatever they learned would help them to be a better player in the near future. For the pride and for oneself - GO for the BRONZE . (P.S: Again due to the unfavourable timeslot, I would be greatly appreciate if any kind folks out there would update me the scores in any means, thanks) AFTERMATH Well done to the Cubs for retaining the spot as the football's bronze medalist of the SEA Games. 3-1 was the final score and glad for the fact that as one of my

Cubs' coach Terry Pathmanathan (above) - unfazed by the criticism of the widely perceived "negative" display of football against the Laotians on Thursday . PREVIEW I hope all the dust had settled by now, following the public outcry of the "negative" display of football by both the national U23 (or CUBS ) and their Laotian counterparts on Thursday night. To be honest, due to some prior arranged commitments I did not catch the match on "livestreaming", and felt it doesn't make any sense to watch the delayed telecast of the game upon received those messages, SMSes I gathered after the game was over. Basically, what matters to us is that we had qualified for the final-four and met the target we set for the Cubs before leaving for Laos, therefore, the utmost agenda is to see what can the Cubs achieved from here. Nonetheless, I did notice something that whenever any of the national teams performed badly, tonnes of criticism would be targeted at the team

PREVIEW A lot of you guys out there must be absolutely gutted and @$%&* when it was announced that Mediacorp decided to DELAY instead of LIVE telecast the Laos-Singapore match. But, hey, no point of crying over a cup of spilled milk, check out this site ( http://laofootball.blogspot.com/ ) tomorrow (or today, if you read this post on 10th Dec 2009) to see if there's any livestreaming of the match. On the other hand, questions had been raised on whether we are being too dependent on "set-pieces" when scoring goals, as some fans voiced their concern over the lack of creativity in the attacking play. At least one reader "happy" have this to say in his comment posted on the recent entry of the Cubs-Myanmar game . 4) Using set-piece is the way to score in international football & the U23 shld be credited for being able to do that as we need to understand interntional football has a few chances and most of it is from set play So it is a step forward for S'

The mascot of the game - " Champa " THE PREVIEW For the reason that I can't catch the game while at work (it's scheduled to kick off at 1600hrs-Singapore time). So would have to rely on good men and women out there to do me a favour by update me the scores by whatever means, thanks. Nonetheless, I managed to gather some comments and thoughts from fellow football fans on the mentioned fixture. A must win game for the Lions (Cubs) nothing else but a victory, (I) th(in)k the more experience(d) players like Shaiful Esah and (Hariss) Harun will get on(to) the scoresheet. (I) think (it will be a) rather a low scoring affair, if the Cubs don't repeat their defensive lapses like they did against Indonesia, 1-0 to the Cubs (against Myanmar).” Jeremy Chia, a self-proclaimed soccer fanatic I know if they can focus for ninety minutes and not get carried away with early goals scored they can win and go on to qualify for finals.” 'Greenrover', a long-time observer of

Catch the game in my living room, no taker of the "SKYPE-IN" for this last-minute gimmick . The Indonesian paid the price for showing little respect to the Singaporeans'"dead-ball" supremacy as their slacking defending allowed the Cubs to make full use of those sloppiness and stabbed in two goals in less than half an hour since the kick-off. A great header from Safuan Baharudin propelled the Cubs to a morale-boasting lead as early as 7min. 24th minute saw the Cubs extended their lead from "golden left-footer" Shaiful Esah, who created the first goal, after the Indonesian 'keeper misjudged the ball that floated in from the right. The Cubs started off well in the first half against a stoned Indonesians, who bounced back in the second to turn the table. But skipper Isa Halim was guilty for his part for failing to stop the ball from the left flank, before the ball was played into the six-yard box to allow the young Garudas to pull one back before the e

Coach Terry Pathmanathan (first from left) demands improvement from his Young Lions. While much of the focus has been centered on their seniors - the Lions, the current form of this team that are going to be the core of this year's SEA Games football squad is also a major cause of concern. Until this day, the performance of the Young Lions is far from satisfactory. Been gathering negative feedback on this team since I last saw them play in their loss against Albirex Niigata weeks ago. "They can't keep the possession after three passes!" said one. "These boys are being complacent, just because they think they're the YOUNG LIONS," said another, implying that being part of this team guarantees a spot in coach Raddy's squad for the year end's sporting fiesta. "We can't expect much from these boys as they're still not up to the mark yet." said coach Terry Pathmanathan after their goal-less draw against Woodlands Wellington. "The

I'm not sure things would have been different if we are in the final of the SEA Games.. only found out that Channel 5 was delay telecasted the match that I managed to source that Vietnamese TV was showing the game live!! But sad to say though, the VTC, must be pissed with the fact that their much-touted side was thrashed by us , that halfway to the second half they decided to switch to volleyball instead!! So much so that I had to rely on the KallangRoar.com for the update, after another alternate source was unavailable (Thank you guys).

Was in Chiangmai days ago for a short getaway and did managed to catch the action of the semi-final clash between us and Thailand (second half though). AT THE ROADSIDE, NEAR MY HOTEL It was such an tense encounter, I was catching the action while my friend was busy bargaining... INSIDE THE HOTEL ROOM Got my friend to snap my reaction after the end of the match... Alas, Tough Luck Boys IT WAS THE BIGGEST NEWS OF THE DAY That "Bangkok Post" had it as the TOP STORY Looks like the SEA Games gold remains an elusive dream for us... If any Singapore player has any regret, it will be the inability to have the gold medal hang around their neck before they hit 24.

The final score : 1-1 Yes, that was the longest FIVE minutes in my life... The elusive dream is still within the reach as the strong determination saw the CUBS (even Mark Richmond got it wrong by calling them - Young Lions!!) through to the final-four to the SEA Games football tournament. Keep the spirit up!! CUBS... (P.S: will not be able to catch the showdown at home but hope over in Chiangmai instead..hehehehe) The ref finally blew the whistle-What a relief! Agu (no.21) redeemed himself by scoring the equalizer, joined in the merry making!! Dejected Malaysian custodian - speechless!!

(Prelude: I am not sure if I'm right to say veteran media personnel Hakikat Rai shared the same sentiment after the dull draw last weekend, having reading his comment on "TODAY" this morning - pictured below.) I'm sure most of the folks out there are pretty skeptical about our chances against the "mighty" Vietnamese.. After all, who can blame some of you for having that though when you up against one of the in-form teams of the region. Anyway, the result (after some final scares) spoke for itself.. Keep on moving boys.. With some of the audience catching the game at J8's "Best Denki".. Could only catch the last 20 minutes of the game because I just knocked-off Hassan Sunny was the hero of the evening but can't blame him for his inability to stop the PK. Enough said.. Keep up the tempo..

(Pictures from TV...) Nice stadium, giving that nice "kampung" feeling... I can't really image what would happend if the lately under-fired terrestrial MediaCorp did not beamed this game over Channel 5. After all, when was the last time we saw the any of the Singapore team on free-to-all channel , be it the national or the U-23 teams? Coach Raddy at the top of his voice.. Anyway, the commentator of the match (who is it, anyway - Bernard Lim?) kept stressing the disatrious outcome if the game ended in draw.. (man, this is pretty annoying) though the biggest drawback was his failure for calling the team - the LIONS, when it actually they are the CUBS. Other than that should we forgive for calling Isa Halim as "Mohd Isa" and Jantan Jumaa't instead of Jumaa't Jantan.. As this is not the first time the CUBS starting off in this manner, I keep my opinion WIDE OPEN.. but just don't come back straight after the Official Opening ceremony, CUBS!! End of th

The sad victory over the Burmese had just confirmed that the U-23 will be packing their bags and head for the next flight home. So what does it tells us?? Simply put it down that reputation means nothing when the two teams square off on the field. Perhaps the tag of that as a Tiger Cup winners weighted heavily on the boys and that "scourge" (complacency) crept in, thus the outcome of the disappointment. No point of finger pointing now but the team owe the nation an apology. Face the music, boys because only then you know how to become a real man.

This match was deemed redundant (99%) even before the start of it. Since the Indonesians have the advantage now, having defeated the group leaders Vietnam in the earlier match. Except for Geylang's Fazrul Nawaz's shot that gave the lead, it was another poor scrappy game for the boys. Blunt as an unsharpened pencil up front, the U-23 yet again shown the incompetence in front of the goal. While, the defence had the Lady Luck to thank for. The "open play" by the Laotians looked threatening as they pricked open the porous defence of the Singapore side. Match commentator Mark Richmond commented that he "felt sorry" for custodian Lionel Lewis, as in front of him is the "shaky" defence led by skipper Baihakki Khaizan and Precious Emuejeraye, both he felt "failed to spread the confidence around". But the end of the day, the boys' fate lays in the hands of the Laotians, hoping they could repeat the same (but sharper) display against the Indone

Singapore 0 - 0 Indonesia Just could not believe it when Sharil Ishak's shot was blocked by the Indonesian 'keeper, when it appeared that the ball was heading towards to the goal! Moments after the agony, the referee blew the whistle to call the end of the game. Much better play from the boys but it wasnt good enough as the goals were not delivered. Coach Raddy shouted his voice to hoarse (clearly audible from the television set). The draw was too much for skipper Baihaikki, as he openly wept in disappointment. The hope of making towards the semi-finals is all but almost evaporated. - Instant thoughts after viewing the game on TV

(picture above: Papers painted a gloomy picture on the U23's SEA Games campaign ) When they left for the Philippines, the expectation on the national U-23 team was high. Who could blame us for all this hype surrounding these guys, after all, they are presumed to be the best squad to be played in the SEA Games, since the football event became a U-23 tournament. Ever since, the opening defeat by the Vietnamese, all concerned parties had painted a gloomy picture on whether the Cubs will once again falter at the group stages. So much so coach Raddy had planned for an all-offensive tactics when against the Indonesians on Thursday, which l hope it's not a signal that they had pressed the panic button, (though in order to advance to the final four, we must take full maximum points from the remaining matches.) Could it be the old complacency that always haunted the boys, when they are always the favourite? Obviously, the answer is a YES.. But till now that's not the issue as the m