BoLASEPaKO.com - A Blog on Singapore Football

Group photo at the end of the session Perennial absentees Garena Young Lions will not be competing in this year's The New Paper League Cup for the third consecutive year after they last featured this tournament back in 2013 which they finished as “Plate Final Runners-up”. This notion was confirmed when the de-facto national U23 squad was not on the drawing list with the remaining eight teams of the Great Eastern-Yeo's S.League had their fate in the competition decided in this afternoon at the News Centre. Confirming another earlier report which was  mentioned by citing unconfirmed sources a day before on this blog's Facebook page , was the omission of the amateur National Football League (NFL) sides from this season's edition, thus making this a genuine solitary League Cup contest. S.League CEO Lim Chin In his opening speech, S.League CEO Lim Chin thanks The New Paper (TNP) for their continuing support as tournament's title sponsors and lauded the C

Sundram (foreground) is set to take over Lions' job So, if what was reported in the media that Tampines Rovers coach V Sundram moorthy (pictured foreground) is going to be the next Lions coach on a year deal , so be it. As many argued a local coach like him should equipped with the essential knowledge of local scene, as compared to a raw foreign coach. Therefore, he should be ready for the grilling task ahead. SHADOW LIONS COACH ... Not to forget the "Dazzler" had been assistant to former national coaches like Raddy Avramovic and the recent departed Bernd Stange on numerous assignments and even served as an interim national coach before the appointment of German Stange, so he should not be unfamiliar with the national team setup at all. Sundram (third from left) was assistant to Coach Raddy (left)  Added to the fact, he was once the coach of the disbanded LionsXII which boasted many of those top local players that formed the backbone of the national team i

Yasir Hanapi (middle) scored the winner After seven five years in wilderness, Tampines Rovers finally made it out of the group stages of the AFC Cup tournament by beating Malaysian powerhouses Selangor FA one-nil at Kallang in front of a crowd of 11,875. The solitary goal was a well-taken attempt from Yasir Hanapi in the 32nd minute that was deemed enough to pave the way for the Stags into the Round of 16. “It was a great goal." said Tampines' coach V Sundram moorthy after the game of the match winner. "He (Yasir) took it well, bend the ball away and it's goal of a match winner." Noh Rahman (5) denied R Gopinathan (25) from advancing Little much were said by the shy 27-year-old midfielder who was also named Man-of-The-Match at the post-match media gathering when asked on his thoughts for scoring that all-important goal. "I am very happy to score that (winning) goal and I can't describe my feelings now." replied Yasir who only joined

He was shouting at the top of his voice whenever his team failed to string up some decent passes and would gesticulating frantically at any moment his team gave the ball away cheaply in the match. However, at the end of the day what really matters to Coach Marko Kraljevic is the first three full points safety in the bag for his Balestier Khalsa side who prior to this match was the only team in the Great Eastern Yeo's S.League without a victory to their name. Miroslav Kristic (extremely right) opened the account of the night When asked after the two-nil win over the cellar-dwellers Garena Young Lions at their Toa Payoh base if his side would have scored a few more to make the win a more comfortable one given how the possession was dominated by their opponents, the former midfielder opined it's about the number of goals scored that win the games not the numbers of passes and possession hold by a team. Said the Croatian coach:"Young Lions kept the possession in the

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