BoLASEPaKO.com - A Blog on Singapore Football

" That's the sad fact.. all in the name of "grooming" youth players for the bigger stage but fail to realize professional league is not a developmental league " Ko Po Hui INTRODUCTION  Ok, this annual review will depart from the previous ones, and as such, I would like to talk about the milestones this blog been achieved so far. ".com" finally BoLASEPaKO.com made its debut on the 1st of January 2008, just as the world ushered in the year 2008 simultaneously.   It was a dream fulfilled after a decade of sharing views, thoughts, and ideas via the website (newsletter) format and later in blog format (just imagine the fact that I wondered if the site would survive then as it was first created out of a shared computer).  Blogging from Stadium Shah Alam OVERSEAS BLOGGING The year also marked the blog's first overseas blogging entry from Shah Alam, Malaysia. It may appear insignificant but for an OMO (One-Man-Operation) blog, it's a moment to be rem

I just came back from Kallang.... What a sad end to the tournament... We had our chances (with Ah Long's countless efforts) but the luck wasn't there at all... The Vietnamese had their chance and capitalized on it and made us paid for the price. The general consensus was "Why Noh Rahman, who had a good game as the right-back, was replaced by an attacking-minded Ismail Yunos?" And because of the gap left by Ismail on the right, allowed Nguyen Quang Hai to score a tap-in from a Le Cong Vinh cross from the - right... Perhaps Ismail's long throw was the reason why coach Raddy wanted to utilize that and hoped one of our tall guys could head home a goal? As quoted what coach Raddy mention here - “We must now prepare for the Asian Cup qualifiers as that will be a more difficult task as we will face strong teams like Iran and Jordan. “This team has been together for some time and they can play together for the next two to three years,” Look forward ahead and don't d

Was at Jalan Besar yesterday afternoon to take a look how the ticket sales, when the organizers decided at the eleventh hour to put the tickets on sale on Saturday, which was slated as a non-sale day. Although there was no long queue for the tickets, the fans slowly turned up at the ground to buy their tickets. When asked how they came to know the tickets were on sale, many of them replied that they got to know "last minute" sale via the papers and from the internet. Next stop to the National Stadium and saw the staff busy prepare the deco for the match. The thing is everybody can just walk into the National Stadium to catch the team in training, although one must be discreet in snapping pictures while the training session is on, as coach Raddy is rather particular about this. Coach Raddy was given a "BOCAP" as a souvenir after the end of the training session...

A screen-shot of the Peres's interview While everyone was gluing on the AFF Suzuki Cup, a Brazilian acquaintance sent me weblink of the interview he conducted with Home United's midfield maestro Peres de Oliveira, who currently holidaying at home in Brazil. In this interview, Peres shared with Renato Andreão, who conducted the interview, his thoughts on various issues like the recent visit to Singapore by the Brazilian Olympic squad, the two coaches that he felt indebted to in his footballing career and what he likes about Singapore. The interview was conducted in Portuguese, you might required "Google Translator" (though flawed, at times) to translate the text into English. The URL is http://www.trivela.com/Conteudo.aspx?secao=44&id=20044

Mum granted me another concession to catch the game at the living room :) We were lucky... That's all can I say after the stalemate performance by the boys.. We were lucky... That Vietnamese were not sharp in front of goal. We were lucky... because birthday boy Lionel Lewis saved our day at goal. We were lucky... to have not a goal conceded. We were lucky... that we are coming home (again to Kallang) in one piece, but to put ourselves under a lot of (unnecessary) pressure. Some feedback I gathered the following day... Whoever I spoke to after the Hanoi game, the following game was those "curse and swear" reaction. "No idea what they were (the Lions) doing with the ball!" exclaimed one colleague of my. "Whenever they got (the ball), they just whacked upfront and allowed Vietnam to come back and attack. "Like macam training session like dat (as they were having a training session)." he added. Another claimed, "Singapore's lucky star was b