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End of #TheBerndStangeShow

One would recall how Bernd Stange - the former Belarus, Iraq, and East Germany national coach was affable and approachable when he first took over as Singapore national team head coach back in 2013 from Serbian Raddy Avramovic for not refusing any "selfie" or photo request from anybody. Such a demeanor would perceive he was then ready to adapt and assimilate into the far-from-desirable footballing infrastructure offered by the island republic when he mentioned he would make do with it when shown the rustic, run-down Geylang Field facilities stated he had seen worse cases in Iraq . The first words I heard from him personally Soon after this, he declared his intention to see the four-time Asean champions play the "pass-and-move" game which he insisted it's how football is being played by many top sides in the world and quashed any thought that it was “Bernd Stange Football” when this blogger first met him in person months after he took the hot seat. Des

[AFC Cup] Tigers Upset HK's Kitchee To Notch First Win of The Year ...

Unfancied Balestier scored their first win of the year Not only Balestier Khalsa got their first victory of the year last evening at the AFC Cup by causing an upset by defeated Hong Kong powerhouses Kitchee SC at the Jalan Besar Stadium, the win also placed them at the top of the Group F table after Kaya FC of the Philippines beat Maldives' New Radiant with the same scoreline Against the run of play with the visitors dominated much of the possession, Balestier took the lead in the 31st minute when Zulkiffli Hassim made no mistake from a cross floated in from the right from Fadhil Noh. "I am not surprise as I had a feeling that I will score," said Zulkiffli on the solitary goal he scored that gifted the Tigers their first competitive win of this season. "And I am happy that we won this game with this goal." "Zul" was on his way out of JBS before sharing his thoughts "I think tonight we played very compact and defended well against Kit

"No Point Being A BIG FISH In The Pond"

Young Lions' sponsorship by Garena is the biggest to date (credit: FAS) "Resources have always been a key constraint faced by the FAS. This record deal represents a great vote of confidence for our programmes, ...The money will be spent wisely on the development of our most promising young talents, and to build the next generation of National Team players." declared Zainudin Nordin (pictured above, second from right), the president of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) after the landmark deal that saw Garena, Southeast Asia’s largest Internet and mobile platform company, named as the main sponsors of the de-facto national developmental squad playing in the S.League. If people do not pay close attention to those words that appeared in the press release that was released weeks ago, would they think the $4,000,000 deal was meant for youth development and not solely for the newly-named Garena Young Lions (GYL, formerly known as Courts Young Lions after the pa

Uniform Duo Shared Spoils in Fiery Outing in Bishan ...

Song Ui-young tussled with Hafiz Nor (11) The league opener for the Uniform Duo of Home United and Warriors FC ended in a two-all draw in the last evening at the Bishan Stadium, which last staged an S.League match back in 2014 after it was selected as one of the venues for the biennial South-East-Asian Games a year later. Prior to the start of this much-hyped campaign saw both sides went through a massive reshuffling in their squads that saw a few notable signings laden onto their rosters with likes of Madhu Mohana, Yazid Yasin recruited from the disbanded Lions XII and Geylang International respectively to Warriors who also welcomed back the likes of Hafiz Osman, Shaiful Esah and Ismail Yunos to the fold. While Home United impressed upon the rest with new names like Faris Ramli, Khairul Nizam, Zulfahmi Arifin (from Lion XII), the two sons of local legend Fandi Ahmad – Irfan and Ikhsan Fandi while retained the core of their squad from last season that included their import trio

Moving The League Closer to the Fans via Transport Innovations ...

(L-R) FAS VP Lim Kia Tong inked the deal with SMRT Commercial's Dawn Low The ongoing buzz surrounding the S.League continues when the local transportation system also gets involved following the announcement of the partnership inked between the League and SMRT Commercial in a ceremony held this afternoon which was graced by the presence of luminaries such as FAS president Zainudin Nordin, S.League CEO Lim Chin and SMRT Commercial Managing Director Dawn Low. Under this new three-year partnership, the promoting and the drive for greater awareness of the League will leverage extensively on SMRT transport network with initiatives like having "meet-and-greet” sessions between players and fans to be held at venues offered by the transporting giants' retailing network such as Raffles Xchange, etc. are on the pipeline. To mark the occasion, a train specially plastered with images of various players from the participating teams, was launched in conjunction with the press an