BoLASEPaKO.com - A Blog on Singapore Football

"The Kung Sheung Daily News" report on the Singaporeans' debut for Kitchee in November 1950 This is a follow-up entry on the post regarding the  seven Singaporean players who played for Kitchee SC in Hong Kong First Division back in the 1950s . "Hong Kong Football History Society" , the Facebook Page that contributed the old newspaper clippings to the said entry back last month, posted a summary of the Singaporeans' debut in Kowloon on 12th November 1950. The summary was based on the match report filed by "The Kung Sheung Daily News" (工商日報) dated 13th November 1950. THE "TIGER BALM" CONNECTION  At the beginning of the summary, it was revealed that the recruitment of the Singaporeans was the brainchild of the late Aw Hoe (胡好) of the famed "Tiger Balm" Aw family despite at that point of time he had already exited from Hong Kong football scene and returned to Singapore in July 1950. "Not willing to see the

More changes are being made to the Singapore Selection in the upcoming Sultan of Selangor's Cup tournament at the end of the month. After their last week's victory over Ceres-Negros in the AFC Cup tournament , Home United will have to omit their representation from the annual showdown in Shah Alam in order to concentrate their continental match against North Korea's 4.25 SC on the 21st of August at the Jalan Besar Stadium. Both Izzdin Shafiq (13) and Shahril Ishak (17) have to withdraw from the Shah Alam trip The Singapore Selection will be helmed by Balestier Khalsa's Marko Kraljevic instead of Protectors' tactician Aidil Sharin, as reported by Fox Sports Asia . ALL JAPANESE IMPORTS IN SINGAPORE SELECTION On top of that, the likes of Tampines Rovers' Syazwan Buhari, Hafiz Sujad, Warriors FC's Emmeric Ong and Albirex Niigata (Singapore)'s Wataru Murofushi are some of those named as the replacement for Home United absentees in the 21-man squad

Instead of clamouring for those good old days, I always believe one shall never dwell on things that were already long gone. Yet, the irony is we still need those past glories to inspire the newer generations to push the boundaries to do better than their predecessors. Mat Noh embraced Uncle Choo after beat Malaysia 1-0 (New Nation) PRE-WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS (ASIA ZONE GROUP ONE) IN SINGAPORE It was a time when Singapore, the host, were ranked outsiders in this tournament which featured regional powerhouses like Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia as well. How would one expect the Lions to do well against a technically superior Malaysia team who still boasted the likes of “Spiderman” R Arumugam, “Towkay” Soh Chin Aun, Santokh Singh, Wong Choon Wah, James Wong, etc. in the absence of the legendary Mokhtar Dahari who was injured? Yet a hotly-disputed penalty which was converted by Mat Noh (who was tasked by coach "Uncle" Choo Seng Quee to train on penal

Shahril Ishak roams into the box One snap (above) of Home United's Shahril Ishak like this in their recent Great Eastern Hyundai Singapore Premier League (SGPL) game against Hougang United should raise a concern about our chance in this year's AFF Suzuki Cup and the panic button should be pressed by now. WHY? First of all, take a look at this picture and what did you see? We have a free-roaming Shahril with his eyes on the ball making his way into the box in this attacking move. Any sane mind would be asking how could a veteran striker like him be given such a luxury of space by a backline? That was probably why Hougang's caretaker coach Clement Teo, seen in the background of this snap, gestured either to his back line to "watch out for Shahril!" or asked, " why no one is marking Shahril?" Eventually, both Justin Hui and Adam Mitter (who was released during the recent transfer window) arrived in time to keep the ex-JDT II skipper at bay.

Yusof B Ibrahim was among those who made their presence days ago at the International Champions Cup - Singapore (ICCSG) tournament which was held for the second time in the Lion City. Here is his summary of the tournament after catching the likes of Arsenal, Atlético Madrid and PSG (Paris Saint-Germain) in action in a space of five days at Kallang. Arsenal head coach Unai Emery The second edition of the International Champions Cup Singapore tournament (ICCSG) was held in late July at the Singapore Sports Hub with the likes of Arsenal, Atlético Madrid and PSG (Paris Saint-Germain) pitted against one another in this annual mega tournament featuring some of the biggest football clubs in the world. Early birds Arsenal arrived with a full squad which included former German international Mesut Özil who was, however, not featured in their opening match against Atlético Madrid, as new Gunners gaffer Unai Emery opted for a similar system favoured by his predecessor Arsene Wen