BoLASEPaKO.COM - A Blog on Singapore Football

Former sports reporter Amanpreet Singh penned the following thoughts (in green text) on Facebook shortly after Albirex Niigata (Singapore) succumbed to their sixth defeat of the campaign to Tanjong Pagar United  on 12th July 2024. Albirex Niigata (S) under Kazuaki Yoshinaga in his previous 4 league seasons in charge (2017, 2018, 2022 and 2023): 7 losses in TOTAL. Albirex Niigata (S) so far this season: 6 losses. Yoshinaga is not the problem. In fact, he is the least of the problems. If you want him sacked, then you have very limited knowledge about the challenges in Singapore football. Sacking him will not solve anything. There is also no other coach (local or foreign) who knows the club better than him. Do you think hiring another coach will result in an immediate upturn in results for Albirex? It will not. In fact, things will, in all likelihood, get worse. Coach Yoshinaga made a sad exit from Singapore football Let’s not forget that Yoshinaga has won the league title in every si...

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 ...

Friendly - Balestier Khalsa 4-1 Tanjong Pagar United 010224 Ignatius “Iggy” Ang of Balestier (front) tried to get past his marker I am not sure how these ongoing friendlies are going to help the new national coach Tsutomu Ogura to have a better understanding of the players available at his disposal in his preparation for the upcoming WCQ match against China when clubs are trying out some raw youngsters during these matches as well? PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE MATCH PICTURES Lions' 1st Training Session under Coach Ogura - 110324 Coach Ogura (right) having a chat with his assistant Nazri Nasir I made a big mistake by being stubborn in my settings and took it for granted that I could fix some of the problems through editing those shots took at night at Kallang Football Hub :( PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE PICTURES WCQ - Singapore 2-2 China 210324 A packed goal mouth in the Singapore-China match The Lions kickstarted Coach Tsutomu Ogura's reign with an emp...

Just shut up if you know nuts I would be more than happy to share insights on Singapore football with anyone interested in learning more about it. However, if someone holds a biased and prejudiced opinion of the local game, I will not engage in conversation with such individuals. These individuals often use the topic of local football as an icebreaker, with the ulterior motive of belittling something they know nothing about. Such behaviour is disrespectful to the unsung heroes who are working hard to improve and rectify the situation of Singapore football. The last thing Singapore football needs is to be frowned upon by those who still harbour thoughts of making sarcastic remarks for amusement. Just stay quiet; no one will think you are dumb. Thank you. - 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎'𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒍 -

Without much fanfare, at least in Singapore, Central Coast Mariners became the first Australian club to win the AFC Cup after defeating Al-Ahed of Lebanon. The crowning of the Gosford-based A-League side as the winners of the continent's second-tier club competition marked the end of the tournament since its inception twenty years ago in 2004. As far as the Lion City is concerned, this competition enabled teams from the island republic to compete against teams from the region. It was quite common during the tournament to see teams like SAFFC , Home United , Tampines Rovers , etc., traveling to places like the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, Hong Kong, Indonesia, etc., to face their regional opponents. Duric (left) has seen the highs and lows of Singapore's AFC Cup journey Unfortunately, many, in my humble opinion, seem to fail to appreciate what the AFC Cup has done for local clubs given the lack of fan interest and the scant coverage from the local media. Besides gaining much-n...