BoLASEPaKO.com - A Blog on Singapore Football

Aide is not pressing the panic button just yet  Scheduled as the preparatory match for the upcoming SEA Games accorded with "A" international match protocols, the Singapore national team started the dice rolling in the fourth minute when skipper Harriss Harun's header went inches above the bar from opening the accounts. Despite dominating much of the possession in this match against Cambodia at Hougang Stadium, it must be appalling for the Cubs for not able to score as much as they created throughout the evening. Probably because the Games are just days away and to avoid any mishap from taking place, both sides adopted a "safety-first" approach with the hosts stroking passes around the park with the visitors defended in numbers at their back baying for opportunities to ambush the men-in-red on the counters. Shafiq Ghani's (26) headed home the only goal Nonetheless, the lack of clinical finishing from both teams on the field was the hallmark

"Heartlands Series" at Toa Payoh The national U23 side played to a one-all draw against Hougang United which comprised mainly their Prime Leaguers at the Toa Payoh Stadium. This match was part of the two-match series arranged this week for the SEA Games gelling process. Speaking to the media after the match, Cubs coach Aide Iskandar revealed he is "more or less" have in his mind who will be his starting eleven in the Myanmar adventure. Said the former national captain:"More or less this team that played tonight will be the first eleven, around 80 percent of them," "Overall, I am quite happy with what I saw today with the chances we created but I am not pleased with the end product that I think we need to work it out on that." added Coach Aide on those rued chances his side had during the match. Aide Iskandar is the coach of the Cubs Following the match against the Cambodian Under-23 side on the same venue this Friday, the squad o

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 Sundram is N9-bound Just a short entry on the thoughts after the news broke out yesterday morning that Lions XII coach V Sundramoorthy is set to join Malaysian club Negri Sembilan in November . While I am not going to discuss the impact on the ongoing Lions XII's Malaysia Cup campaign, as I think I don't qualify for that. Instead, I would like to share my thoughts on the effect for the upcoming SEA Games in Burma in coming December. It was widely acknowledged that “The Dazzler” was supposed to spearhead the national U23 team in their quest for that elusive regional glory, thus with the confirmation of the 47-year-old's new venture across the Causeway in weeks to come, it had definitely caused quite a disruption for the SEA Games preparation. "As I have said on several occasions, I am deeply appreciative of the support and assistance rendered to me by my management and colleagues at FAS." said coach Sundram in a press release issued by the Football

Shafiq Ghani scored the only goal (file picture) To be honest, we are still uncertain if the ticket to SEA Games for the national U23 football squad is being secured following their 1-0 win over their Indonesian counterparts. After all, the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) had made it clear that in order to see the Cubs in action in Burma this December, certain criteria need to be met (i.e.: chalking up results against regional opponents to prove their worth). Coach V Sundramoorthy's boys continued to show their defensive superiority like they did in their recent MSL campaign (having fielded 10 Lions XII players in the starting eleven), the lack of goals upfront could prove to be their Achilles heel at the end of the day. The only goal of the evening came in the 10th minute from the spot after Shafiq Ghani made no mistake from the dot following a clever position by Faris Ramli at the edge of the box saw striker tussled his way into the box and earned the foul in

Delwinder Singh (pictured right)  Upon knowing his calling up to the national Under-23 squad by coach V Sundramoorthy to face their Indonesian counterparts in a friendly match on this coming Saturday at the Jalan Besar Stadium, Geylang International defender Delwinder Singh is "grateful" for the opportunity given by the "Dazzler". Said the 21-year-old:"I am very grateful for this opportunity to be part of this under 23 squad . It is something that I've always been looking forward to and now that I'm selected for the squad it's definitely a great feeling and honour to don the national colours ." The calling of the youngster, who earned his first senior cap under former Lions coach Raddy Avramovic in 2011, came at a time when he just recovered from a nose injury he sustained weeks ago in a league match, which would have cast any doubt on his inclusion. Sharing his thoughts on that misadventure that required facial surgery after whic

(This entry is based on the media releases issued by the Football Association of Singapore) Coach V Sundramoorthy (File Picture) SINGAPORE, 10 JULY 2013: The Football Association of Singapore today announced that 24 players have been called up to the National Under-23 team which will be playing against Indonesia Under-23 as part of its ongoing preparations for the upcoming SEA Games in Myanmar in December. There is a familiar look about the squad, which comprises predominantly of players from the LionsXII team, who are fresh from their recent triumph in the Malaysian Super League. The only exceptions are defenders Afiq Yunos from Courts Young Lions and Delwinder Singh from Geylang International, who ply their trade in the S.League. V Sundramoorthy, Head Coach of the Under-23 team said: “We are all well aware of the significance of this game. A good result could present a chance for us to participate in this year’s SEA Games. We will be prepared for this Saturday and I believ

Read a tweet from my timeline that goes like this before the Indonesia-Malaysia SEA Games match after the Cubs defeated the supposedly perennial powerhouses Thailand 2-0. "This is e first (and probably will be e only) time a 2-0 win over Thailand feels like a defeat..." Can't blame that sense of pessimistic when the Cubs initially failed in achieving the target that mammoth task of four goals against the Thais because the goal difference between them and the Malaysians, whom they defeated the hosts to progress to the semi-finals. Anyway, will not comment on the game itself when I did not see the match in the first place (due to work again). However, gathered from the timeline it was perceived that the Cubs were better up against their opponents with several offside decisions that went against them in the second half that one suggested it would have been 5-0. At the end of the day when your fate is not in your hands, one just have to learn and accept the eventual outcome a

Like mentioned, I did not get to see the match that Cubs lost to the Indonesians due to work. However, here's the Youtube clip of the match via a Vietnamese broadcaster. General thoughts of the game gathered online lauded the performance of the Singapore side for keeping the scoreline respectable especially with their performance in the second half , after conceding two goals and a player sent off (Nigel Vanu)in the first half. While some may blasted the Filipino referee for his handling of the match (as told), a friend feedback via SMS thought otherwise as he opined... "The ref from philippines was first rate and had to penalise indonesians repeatedly for diving etc nigel (Vanu) had to go ref spot on if you watch a game in a one eyed way you do not get a true picture i am certain the indo fans felt the ref was hard on them as he kept denying them free kicks as he could read their tricks and was eagle eyed picking up infringements" Now we are left with a mountain to

Two contrasting emotions depicted in the picture snapped off the television after the game with a grim-looking Cambodian's Korean coach Lee Tae-Hoon (top half of the picture) pondering what could have gone wrong after two straight defeats in Jakarta. While his counterpart Sloban Pavkovic (below half) breathe a sight of relieve having see the Cubs came back from a goal deficit to beat the Khmers 2-1 in the near-empty Senayan with headers from Khairul Nizam and Nigel Vanu. Following the thumping loss against the Indonesia, the Khmers started off with a fluke goal in the first half that caught all by surprise, before having to see the game slipped away with the Cubs gaining more of the dominance in the second. Already under fire from the press back in Cambodia over his recent handling of the team's affairs, Lee's future with the Khmers certainly look shaky that even before the start of the tournament my fellow blogger, Phnom Pehn based Andy Brouwer of Kingdom of Footba

Screen-grab off TV after the game was over... The just concluded match saw the Cubs walked away with a 0-0 draw against the defending SEA Games champions Malaysia at the Senanyan in Jakarta in this "Group of Death" opener. Due to work, I could only watched the second half of the match and therefore I am not in the best position to give an all-round review of the match. Based on the tweets I gathered while the first half was played it seemed that we had a good start until the Harimau Muda settled into the later stages of the first period to dominate the play with slight better percentage in holding the ball. Yet, it was the Cubs that had the chance of the match when a tweet suggested the following: - Fazli Ayob with the best chance of the day when he twisted and turned 3 Msia players before Khairul Fahmi saves his shot. While another tweet looked into a more tactical side of the match when he added - They should have a three man midfield with Hariss (Harun) anchor n

Initially, when I gathered the news of the SEA Games squad being announced via some sources online I thought the nagging NS issue that had been bothering some of the boys had already settled at the nick of time. It was only later when I opened my mailbox and saw the official release from the Football Association of Singapore regarding the squad list and realized the word "Provisional" in between the keywords. (Picture above right) Emmeric Ong, in white top, already enlisted and not able to join the squad in Jakarta So nothing is confirmed just yet and a number of the boys below are still keeping their fingers crossed as they are just a week away from facing Malaysia in Jakarta. Imaging just the night before leaving for Indonesia and the enlistment letter arrives in the letterbox ... Good Grief -___- UPDATE... Days later on 2nd November, FAS released an update of the new squad list with the inclusion of the Yasir Hanapi from Home United to make it a 20-man squad

Firdaus Idros being called up to Lions In a media release announced just hours ago by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), national coach Raddy Avaramovic added two more uncapped players into the 21-men squad that are due to face Jordan (away) and China (home) next month in their upcoming World Cup qualifiers. They are Home United's striker Firdaus Idros (who was once asked by a S.League coach why wasn't he being selected) and Tanjong Pagar Utd's Patrick Paran. At the meantime, the list also saw some notable absentees such as Safuwan Baharudin, Hariss Harun, Shahdan Sulaiman and Izwan Mahbud who are being committed to the upcoming SEA Games in Indonesia. However, the latest selection by coach Raddy did raise a few queries as why Qiu Li, who reported to be out of the season due to recurring injury, is still in the list and a perceived weaken goalkeeping department that is not strengthen with the departure of Izwan to the Cubs. Probably, it could be the cas

Those three emicons at the end of the tweet message (prt-screen above) was my initiate reaction when the news confirmed that the National Under 23 squad or the Cubs are drawn into the "Group of DEATH" of the biennial games to be held in Indonesian capital Jakarta. After all, we are up against the defending champions Malaysia and regional powerhouses Thailand (whom we defeated just weeks ago in a friendly), host nation Indonesia and Cambodia . The fact that a chunk of squad deemed unavailable due to National Service (NS) had saddled onto the mammoth task ahead, both players and officials seems undaunted by the mountain ahead of them in spite not having the ideal preparation in the run up to the most prestigious medal of the regional meet-up. “Yes, we have gotten the information that we are in Group A but I would like to focus on my team first and get them ready for the tournament where we will be up against quality sides in the group.” said coach Slobodan Pavkovic of the