BoLASEPaKO.com - A Blog on Singapore Football

Long overshadowed by its more glamorous counterparts (i.e.: the S.League and the Singapore Cup), the FA Cup is the third major tournament organized by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) since 1995. From 1999 onwards, the tournament had become a chance for a silverware for the NFL clubs after a decision was made that S.League clubs should not longer participate in this competition with Tanjong Pagar United being the last professional club to clinch the honour in 1998 after beating Sembawang Rangers at the demolished National Stadium. However, the admission of Prime League squads of the S.League clubs in 2006 had end the monopoly of these NFL sides on this trophy with each year finalists since then having a side being the secondary squad of a professional setup with them walked away as winners on three occasions. Picture obtained from the  official Facebook page Unfortunately, the last two editions of the Cup Final saw the part-timers triumphed over their much illustrio

Those three emicons at the end of the tweet message (prt-screen above) was my initiate reaction when the news confirmed that the National Under 23 squad or the Cubs are drawn into the "Group of DEATH" of the biennial games to be held in Indonesian capital Jakarta. After all, we are up against the defending champions Malaysia and regional powerhouses Thailand (whom we defeated just weeks ago in a friendly), host nation Indonesia and Cambodia . The fact that a chunk of squad deemed unavailable due to National Service (NS) had saddled onto the mammoth task ahead, both players and officials seems undaunted by the mountain ahead of them in spite not having the ideal preparation in the run up to the most prestigious medal of the regional meet-up. “Yes, we have gotten the information that we are in Group A but I would like to focus on my team first and get them ready for the tournament where we will be up against quality sides in the group.” said coach Slobodan Pavkovic of the

How frustrated can it be again? Despite all the hindrances facing the National Under-23 squad in their preparation for the upcoming SEA Games, the local game authority boldly set a "final" target for the Cubs. Nothing wrong with being ambitious, as it departs from the usual modest target to settle for a "semi-final" in the biennial games even if we had our best squad in the past capable of the elusive gold. Yet, the biggest bugbear facing the team to be led by FAS Technical Director Slobodan Pavkovic is the high number of players being enlisted for the mandatory National Service (NS). Hariss Harun (14) in action for Lions  Already several boys found themselves crippled by the ruling, notably Hariss Harun (pictured above middle) and Safuwan Baharudin (pictured above right) - two of the star performers in the ongoing fading World Cup qualifiers. As a result of it, Hariss was not able to feature in several key matches. All these after fruitless negotiating

Isa Halim after the final whistle was blown Things just don't look that good when we conceded a goal within the first 15-minute slot that saw Abdallah Deeb scored to give the Jordanian the lead, when the Lions barely find the momentum upfront with some misguided balls that strayed away needlessly. Safuwan's (extremely right in red) header almost levelled the scores Few chances that came across following that setback with defender Safuwan Baharudin's "out-of-nowhere" header from close range nearly leveled the scores in the 35th minute or so, but the scores stayed that way at the end of the first 45 minutes. Like their Iraqis counterparts, the Jordanians show no awkwardness on plastic surface, despite the earlier grouse by their coach Adnan Hamad over the surface like Zico did earlier . Ahmad Ibrahim (extremely right in white) scored the third for Jordanians in 63rd minute It is clear that the Middle-Easterners being the more dynamic side and undeniab

"MINI MANILA" I'm not sure how that sentiment started in the first place, but judging by the posting plastered online and heard from the grapevine, it seems that JBS would turn out become a "mini Manila" for the friendly fixture between Singapore and The Philippines. True enough that majority turned out for the game were the expat Filipinos. Just like most of the matches played earlier that involving any foreign team in recent months, the Pinoys were all in unison rhythm and voice (most of the time) that rocked the normally subtle JBS. THE MATCH Honestly speaking from my perspective that both sides lacked the firepower upfront during the first half of the match. Jason De Jong (21) in tussle with Hariss Harun (partially hidden) While the Filipinos looked nippy at times on the flanks, but the combination of Daniel Bennett and Safuwan Baharudin did well to ward off the dangers, although the visitors did look one-dimensional in much of their offense (pl