BoLASEPaKO.COM - A Blog on Singapore Football

Singapore coach Tsutomu Ogura   It is not uncommon to hear the chorus of disapproval from the masses after any less-than-convincing performance from the Singapore national football team . The same thing happened after the Lions concluded their friendly fixtures of late against Myanmar and Chinese Taipei at the National Stadium . Using these two fixtures as a final tuning up before the biennial showpiece, the Asean Championship , aka AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup (AFF ME Cup), Coach Tsutomu Ogura prioritised experimenting with some new tactics and formations, which resulted in a scrappy 3-2 win over the "Chinthe" before succumbing to their third defeat to the Blue Wings on the same scoreline since 2017. A SCRAPPY WIN OVER MYANMAR Understandably, the performances from these two fixtures aren't convincing enough to suggest the four-time Asean champions are ready for the bigger test. Apart from the first half against the Myanmarese, when the Lions took an early lead from F...

Lions Head Coach Tsutomu Ogura The Singapore national team wrapped up their training camp in Japan with one win and two defeats to the J1 clubs they sparred with. Apart from the 2-1 victory over Tokyo Verdy, the club where Lions coach Tsutomo Ogura worked as assistant manager prior to his appointment to the current role in early February, the four-time Asean champions succumbed to heavy losses to FC Tokyo (4-0) and Yokohama F. Marinos (7-1). PREPARING FOR THE AFF MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CUP The motive of the camp is to gear the team up for the upcoming AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup , which is scheduled to commence on 8 December. The outcome of these friendlies should not be surprising, given the wide gulf in footballing standards between the Republic and Asia's number one. REALITY CHECK FOR THE LIONS This notion was fittingly expressed by Coach Ogura in his assessment with The Straits Times when he told the broadsheet: "Before this, they (Singapore) had a feeling of how big the g...

Lions Coach Tsutomu Ogura listening attentively to a question  National coach Tsutomu Ogura announced his squad of twenty-eight players during a media briefing held this afternoon (28/8) at the Jalan Besar Stadium. Notable selections by the former Japanese national assistant coach include the return of Lion City Sailors' goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud and Balestier Khalsa defender Darren Teh back to the fold with Geylang International's Zikos Chua and Ajay Robson of Hougang United earned their first call-ups to the senior squad. FIFA DATES AGAINST J1 TEAMS, JDT, AND STAGS Another noteworthy announcement made during the briefing was the scheduling of closed-door friendly matches against Singapore Premier League side BG Tampines Rovers and Malaysian giants Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) during the September FIFA match window (2-10 September) at the Kallang Football Hub . A training tour to Japan is planned for October, during which the Lions are set to face three different J1 clubs in ...

Coach Ogura must prepare to take a bold step now Little time should be wasted now since the writings are already on the wall following the announcement of the draw for the groupings of the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup (hereafter referred to as the AFF Championship ) on 21st May. THE CHALLENGE AHEAD FOR COACH OGURA With both Lion City Sailors and BG Tampines Rovers participating in the AFC Champions League 2 (ACL 2) — the former in the group stage and the latter in the play-off round ** (see footnote) as the second-best local team — it is an opportune time for national coach Tsutoma Ogura to broaden his scouting scope. This is particularly pertinent given the scheduling overlap between the biennial regional showpiece and ACL 2 , the new second-tier continental club tournament where many key Lions players are likely to be involved. OPPORTUNITIES FOR NEW TALENTS Since the AFF Championship is a non-FIFA sanctioned tournament, clubs are under no obligation to release their players for ...

Coach Ogura having some thoughts at a training session? Is it too early to conclude anything from just two games after Tsutomu Ogura took charge? Probably in some cases but judging from the sentiments from the public, things are looking positive when fans lauded the performances of the Singapore national team after their two recent World Cup Qualifying matches against China. Despite having drawn 2-2 at home before losing 4-1 away to the Chinese, the Lions put up spirited displays against the team that is ranked 88th on the FIFA ranking (as of the time of writing). The wild celebration ignited by Jacob Mahler's equaliser at Kallang on 21st March was matched by the fist-clenching moment for the soft penalty given to the Chinese in Tianjin that resulted in the hosts taking the lead and propelled them to a face-saving win. Both The Straits Times and CNA praised the performance of the Lions despite the defeat in the third largest municipality of China. "The Lions put up a brave...

Singapore claimed its first World Cup Qualifiers point with this draw This post will wrap up the largely euphoric sentiment following our 2-2 draw with China on the 21st of March at Kallang. One can sympathise with the players for their joy when Jacob Mahler levelled the game, especially after a tumultuous period under Takayuki Nishigaya , the former coach. It was like a huge relief, finally being able to breathe properly. Although Nishigaya's successor, Tsutomu Ogura , was quick to express his displeasure at that celebration , which resulted in one of the corner flags being damaged in the process, during the post-match assessment after his first game in charge. In his opinion, the former Japan assistant coach felt the celebration was premature while the game was still ongoing. Encouraging start for Coach Ogura (left) I am sure the same message was relayed to the team immediately after the game in the dressing room. I am not sure if this result can be compared with that famous goa...