BoLASEPaKO.com - A Blog on Singapore Football

Benoit Croissant holding the S.League Championship trophy THE DECISION “I had decided that after we won the championship!” said French defender Benoit Croissant as he would like to put the record straight on his decision to retire from the game after helping Tampines Rovers to retain their league title back in last November (pictured above). Following the nail-biting finishing towards the end of last season's Great Eastern Yeo's S.League title race, the Stags set their target for something more ambitious with their aim to improve their performance on the continental front after a dismal outing in their AFC Cup campaign last year. As the result, Tampines Rovers wielded their axe and saw them offloaded a number of notables from their payroll alongside Croissant at the end of the campaign as reported in the media recently . However, the former Sheffield United player actually had other plans drawn up after the end of last season with his mind is set for the next chapter o

(P.S: If you access this site via "come.to/matchpix", please click the "Facebook" icon after you click "HERE" when you want to view the album as that will redirect you to the album, thank you) Lions' 2012 Suzuki Cup Prep... Coach Raddy (wearing white cap) put the teams to drills I didn't apply for the necessary accreditation (which I eventually did, thanks to those you know who you are) that I thought it will be good for me to turn out for some shots two days before the semis against Philippines and only have it published after we won the game. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE SHOTS 2012 NexLions Cup 16/12/12 Luis Cortez - to be the NEXT one? It was the dark horses in the likes of Sporting Lisbon U 19 emerged as the champions of this inaugural tournament beating Liverpool U19 2-0 in the final with another English side Manchester United U19 clinching third spot with a 2-1 win over gutsy hosts Singapore Youth Selection.

"Lemme think properly, can or not?!" PREFACE  "Amid the general consensus towards newly proposed initiatives, as an individual, we would have to ask ourselves have we all gave a serious thought on why, how those initiatives came about and are we being swayed in an emotional turmoil before making any comment?" That was the question I posted on one of the postings on the blog Facebook Page following a commentary by Leonard Thomas of The New Paper urging the largely skeptical masses to give the much-criticized initiatives by the Special Business Unit (SBU) a chance to prove their worth with the year ended with another tumultuous finishing as the local football fraternity embarked itself for another new journey in 2013. EASY TO SCRAP THE S.LEAGUE "STAND BY ME ..." From time to time have we not heard cries urging the scrapping of the S.League to start everything afresh, given the kind of situation we are in now. It would be a sensible move and it&

Skipper Shahril Ishak (left) and Hariss Harun hoisted the AFF Suzuki Cup Trophy  I may be wrong, but I can't recall and am not sure if the scenes at the Jalan Besar Stadium earlier were something we have not seen for years. I am not that certain when we were last crowned as ASEAN champions in both 2004 and 2007 and had something like what we saw earlier (I did remember the last victory parade at Orchard Road in 2004 did attract a similar turnout). However, what that is certain is you don't expect this to happen that often in recent years when Singapore football was in the doldrums. A snap of the fans who were there to welcome the Lions at JBS I think that was the first time since my involvement I saw fans and supporters eagerly gathered outside JBS to catch a glimpse of the Lions after the "Victory Parade" to celebrate the Lions' AFF Suzuki Cup triumph. Armed with their autograph books or another thing that can be scribed onto, these fans stretch

Jubilation at Toa Payoh East CC after the defeat  I saw them sweat a bucket, I saw them toil under the heat in the obscure Geylang Field and amid all those uncertainties that led to the building up for the Suzuki Cup after the disastrous World Cup Qualifiers campaign that ended point-less and at the foot of their group. No one knows what to expect from them from the tournament they last won in 2007 on the same ground with uninspired friendly results before the real test began. It was only after the 3-0 win over the Malaysians that slowly regained that bit of confidence in those massive skeptics out there, but things took a sudden twist when they found themselves deprived of the services of key players like "Boy Wonder" Hariss Harun and Shi Jiayi due to unforeseen circumstance. It is either JBS or Geylang Field for Lions prep (file picture) It was then everyone on the team realized they had to grit their teeth to push themselves to the limit, they were aware o