BoLASEPaKO.COM - A Blog on Singapore Football

Singapore's coach Bernd Stange Speaking ahead of their AFF Suzuki Cup opener against Thailand tomorrow at the National Stadium, Singapore National Coach Bernd Stange maintained his usual confidence at the joint pre-match press conference at M Hotel. "I believe we are well prepared to show that we are the top team since we are hosting the tournament," said the German coach. "With expecting crowds of thirty, forty thousands behind us, this is always an advantage to any home team because they added pressure to the away team and motivate the (home) players to do well just like anywhere in the world." Only Thailand (far right) was not represented by their head coach Despite last minute changes that saw the Lions not able to conduct their final training at the pristine Kallang surface prior to the opener, the former Belarus national coach is least worried for the lack of familiarization. Explained Coach Stange:"This is not the first time the play...

Rafi Ali close checked on "Macca" A trip down to the Jalan Besar Stadium last evening sets apart from those previous ones. It was because the showpiece last night, literally brought me back to my formative years when catching football action on television was a norm then (not much in these recent years). Suddenly, the likes of Ian Rush, Steve McManaman, Fandi Ahmad, V Sundramoorthy whom I used to catch in action on television appeared right in front of me to showcase what they were during their heydays and for Robbie Fowler, himself, could sort of making up for his non-appearance on the same arena when he first came to Singapore in 2009 with the now-defunct A-League side North Queensland Fury . Liverpool legend Ian Rush (left)  don an "Aleks T-shirt" The match was almost derailed before the scheduled kickoff time at 7pm due to the persistent rain and eventually went ahead in drizzling after the deactivation of the Light Warning System (LWS). Anothe...

(L-R) Steve McManaman and Robbie Fowler Earlier in the day, the pre-match press conference for the Castlewood Group Liverpool Masters was at The Westin. Following the success of last year's Masters Event held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, local-based commercial real estate developer - Castlewood Group had decided to back the event for the second time on a roll with an array of stars from the yesterdays that featuring household names of both Liverpool Football Club and Singapore national football team in a friendly match to be played this coming Saturday at the Jalan Besar Stadium. (L-R) Aleksandar Duric and Aide Iskandar In attendance at the said press conference were former Liverpool idols Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman alongside with ex-Lions skipper Aide Iskandar and recently retired Aleksandar Duric together with Chris Comer, CEO of Castlewood Group (pictured below third from left) and event organizer Steve Black, CEO of Masters Football Asia (picture below thir...

Zaiful (yellow jersey) dominated the play in his box Just like how he did in the semifinals that aided Balestier Khalsa to the RHB Singapore Cup final after knocking out Tampines Rovers on penalties, custodian Zaiful Nizam is the Tigers' star of the night again. The former Lion City Cupper put up another stellar performance for the Toa Payoh-based club in front of 6,000 at the Jalan Besar Stadium to beat defending holders Home United 3-1 to clinch the side's second honour for the consecutive season (Balestier were the League Cup winners last year). Staying true to the spirit of any Cup fixture, the designated home side did not sit back to allow their neighbours across Braddell Road to take any advantage of having a more potent frontline that would win any game on their day. Sadly though, the night did not belong to the Protectors who were left frustrated for much of the game, not just because of Zaiful's heroics, but also due to the well-marshalled backline led b...

Balestier's coach Marko Kraljevic (file picture) It is by no mean an easy feat to see Balestier Khalsa's coach Marko Kraljevic to lead the unfancied Tigers to the club's second Cup Final on consecutive season. After all, the Croatian is considered a rookie for taking charge a S.League senior side for the first time in his coaching career that saw him once handled the Prime League squads of both Balestier and Woodlands Wellington in recent years. Speaking ahead of tomorrow's RHB Singapore Cup Final against Home United, their much illustrious opponents across Braddell Road, the 49-old-year appeared confident when sat down with this blogger after his team's training session at their Toa Payoh base last evening. Said the former Tampines Rovers midfielder:"I believe with the high spirit, we are having at this moment, we can win the Cup, "This is especially after we made it to the top-six of the league (after Round Two), everything started to be on ...