BoLASEPaKO•COM - A Blog on Singapore Football

27 th January 2007 - A day I would never forget to mark on my calendar. Not only because it's my younger sister's BIG day but also because it's also the day when the two of the deadliest footballing rivalries meet up to settle a long overdue score. Who could even forget the Dec 2002, when the Lions were humiliated in front of the packed Kallang Roar by the neighbours from across the Causeway!! Unfortunately, the agony is I am not able to be at Kallang for the showdown... Sad... :(

Bag of nerves - should be the best phrase to describe the Lions' first-half performance at Shah Alam. Fortunately, they managed to regain the composure and put up a much better display in the second half with "Ah Long" (Noh Alam Shah, pictured on the left with the blogger) headed home the equalizer. The talking point should be sending off of skipper Aide Iskandar (pictured on the right with the blogger) initial sources claimed the skipper returned to play without the ref's permission) and Lionel's leg that saved the game for us.

Do I need to say more? Just take a look at the picture above, I guess we being the "carrot" being sliced piece by piece by the people who might not even know where is Singapore? Wake up guys!! they had earned more than enough and distanced themselves from the ground!

The result of this friendly (SIngapore 4-1The Philippines) don't really reflected the truth hidden beneath it. Yes, thrashing is the right word to phrase the outcome of this warm-up prior the commencement of the Asean Football Championship but for those at the ground, it meant otherwise. Though they looked scrappy, the goals by ace striker Indra Sahdan Daud and Khairul Amri will provided a sign of relieve for the team's poor scoring record of late. The defence will have to look into the chinks they exposed by their slow regrouping after losing the ball at the middle. After than that, let's keep our fingers crossed - make or break, it's up to you, Lions!

While I appreciated the fact that the Lions are pretty confident in retaining the tag as the best footballing nation in South East Asia, let's not be too over-confident. Spoke to a working colleague, one of those sceptical folks you found on the street, I asked what deterred him from supporting the national team and Singapore football. Stereotypical answers were given like Talk BIG (over-confident), can't deliver The absence of that ambience we last saw in the Malaysia Cup days (that a stark hard fact we got to face which something can't be erased so easily) Stagnant - we still stuck in perimeter of the SEA stage Of course, it's never easy to convert fans like this coleague of me easily, however, let's just our finger crossed. Come 13th Jan, let's get start all over again give the Kallang Roar a fitting farewell on the 4th of Feb. Majulah Singapura!!