BoLASEPaKO•COM - A Blog on Singapore Football

We are OUT and LOST the Cup .... Malaysia were clearly the more dominant side with their possession and fast closing up play that barely gave Singapore a breather in the first half. The absence of Shahdan Sulaiman in the engine room was pretty obvious with the Lions lacked the creative flow upfront to deem Khairul Amri a lonely figure facing Malaysian custodian Khairul Fahmi Che Mat in the box, as both Fazrul Nawaz and Faris Ramli on both flanks looked ineffective to prick open the stubborn wall of the visitors. Hariss  (right) shield the ball from "Mat Yo" Much credit to Hariss Harun whom Coach Stange made the right decision to keep him in the usual holding position to keep things checked in the midfield to lighten the load of the otherwise stretched Singapore defence. However, the game of football is all about scoring more goals than your opponents in order to win the game, which the Harimau Malaya did it just right to seal the night. And it proved to be a ...

Hariss's  brac e raised the roof of Kallang Singapore salvaged their AFF Suzuki Cup title-defending hopes with a nail-biting 4-2 win over Myanmar at Kallang last evening. Much of the talks before the game surrounded the White Angels' Serbian coach, Raddy Avramovic, for his familiarity with the team that were largely groomed by him for a near decade before he stepped down after leading the Lions to their fourth Asean title in 2012. It was probably that familiarity that had the Myanmarese came back strongly in the second half to narrow the gap to a goal deficit after trailing three-nil before the interval. As explained by Coach Raddy in the post-match media conference. "The plan was to keep Singapore off our field in the first half and attack them in the second," said the former Notts County custodian. "I thought we conceded three easy goals and with this result, we will have a difficult game against Thailand (this Friday) it's Christmas came ear...

Hassan dived correctly but can't stop the Thais' winner It could not have been a worst possible start for the defending Asean football champions with a defeat in the hands of those they defeated two years ago to clinch that fourth title. But that twisted fate saw the reversal of the role with Singapore National Team, playing their first full international match in the new National Stadium, ended the night with a heart-breaking loss to Thailand on a 2-1 scoreline. A general consensus from several sectors concluded a draw would be a fair result for both, while some opinions suggested the War Elephants looked relatively raw and inexperienced (since a large part of the team are elevated from the recent Incheon Asian Games squad). A pretty even first half saw a keenly contested affair from both sides with some intensify attacking plays that saw the visitors pulled the first trigger in the ninth minute with a Prakit Deeprom's strike that riveted past Hassan Sunny but i...

Singapore's coach Bernd Stange Speaking ahead of their AFF Suzuki Cup opener against Thailand tomorrow at the National Stadium, Singapore National Coach Bernd Stange maintained his usual confidence at the joint pre-match press conference at M Hotel. "I believe we are well prepared to show that we are the top team since we are hosting the tournament," said the German coach. "With expecting crowds of thirty, forty thousands behind us, this is always an advantage to any home team because they added pressure to the away team and motivate the (home) players to do well just like anywhere in the world." Only Thailand (far right) was not represented by their head coach Despite last minute changes that saw the Lions not able to conduct their final training at the pristine Kallang surface prior to the opener, the former Belarus national coach is least worried for the lack of familiarization. Explained Coach Stange:"This is not the first time the play...

Rafi Ali close checked on "Macca" A trip down to the Jalan Besar Stadium last evening sets apart from those previous ones. It was because the showpiece last night, literally brought me back to my formative years when catching football action on television was a norm then (not much in these recent years). Suddenly, the likes of Ian Rush, Steve McManaman, Fandi Ahmad, V Sundramoorthy whom I used to catch in action on television appeared right in front of me to showcase what they were during their heydays and for Robbie Fowler, himself, could sort of making up for his non-appearance on the same arena when he first came to Singapore in 2009 with the now-defunct A-League side North Queensland Fury . Liverpool legend Ian Rush (left)  don an "Aleks T-shirt" The match was almost derailed before the scheduled kickoff time at 7pm due to the persistent rain and eventually went ahead in drizzling after the deactivation of the Light Warning System (LWS). Anothe...