BoLASEPaKO.com - A Blog on Singapore Football

Kyoga Nakamura's deal - a bigger news I can sense that excitement when Tampines Rovers surprised everyone when they dished out an unprecedented contract to bind Kyoga Nakamura for the next five years . After all, a commitment for that duration is something unheard of in local football where it was a common thing to see one or, if lucky, a two-year contract for the players. Furthermore, it came at a time when the economy is not doing well when most of us are worrying about our bread and butter. CONTINUING OF THE HYPE? The surfacing of this development definitely gave us a "wow" reaction, and probably something of a continuation of hype after the heroics of the Lions that melted the hearts of the nation in the recent AFF Suzuki Cup followed by the signing of Izwan Mahbud and M Anumanthan to the big-spending Lion City Sailors (LCS). Not forgetting Albirex Niigata (Singapore) made eyes turn when they roped in former Japanese international Tadanari Lee  ( Lee is famous for s

Izwan Mahbud switched to LCS  🚨 So much hoo-ha today (8/1) on the latest Lion City Sailors' (LCS) recruitment of both Izwan Mahbud and M Anumanthan . 💭 A friend of mine asked me about my thoughts on Izwan's signing for the Sailors, the following are some of my thoughts. 👍 On the positive side, it makes the contest for the number one spot more intense which is good, be it on the club or national team (NT) level. 🔄 I would like to think Coach Kim Do-hoon intends to rotate both Hassan Sunny and Izwan, given the packed calendar LCS be having. Happy headache for Coach Kim (credit: LCS) ⚠️ Having either one of them sit on the bench for too long isn't gonna do any good, given their importance to the NT who have both Asian Cup qualifiers and Suzuki Cup coming up later this year. 🧐 I would think Izwan be staying put at Hougang United where he would have more playing time to allow him to impress whoever is going to be the NT coach. 🐴 In the meantime, there are some quibbles on

Indonesia (red) and Thailand (blue) are finalists of AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 Final (credit: Jaron Lee) While it may seem like a different concept when he made the suggestion in 1977, but the ongoing AFF Suzuki Cup - a tournament contested by Asean nations should be the brainchild of Indonesian Benny Moelyono. Speaking to The Straits Times during 1978 Pre-World Cup qualifiers, the then Indonesia assistant team manager proposed an "Asean Cup soccer tournament, run along the lines of the UEFA Cup" According to Moelyono, Asean "needs is a meaningful competition," and invitation tournaments like King's Cup (of Thailand), Merdeka Cup (Tournament of Malaysia) were for the "sake of it" which did not arouse national spirit like the Asean tournament he proposed. The idea of "Asean Cup" first mooted in 1977 (credit: NLB archive ) "I'm sure it would be a success. Besides helping Asean countries improve their soccer standards, the tournament would

No time to waste on searching for Coach Yoshida's replacement No point in crying over a cup of spilled milk when the utmost task for the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) is to seek an immediate replacement for outgoing Tatsuma Yoshida as the Singapore National Team Head Coach. As mentioned in the press release announcing the Japanese tactician's departure after steering the Lions to the AFF Suzuki Cup semis for the first time since 2012, the FAS "will commence with the search for a permanent replacement for Tatsuma in January 2022" in order to prepare for the third and final round of qualification for the Asian Cup in next June After all, have we not learned from the past that dragging their feet in naming a replacement for the national coach would have a detrimental effect. Even if a permanent replacement is not possible in time, getting someone on an interim basis should be one option to ensure the preparation for the Asian Cup qualifiers not be disrupted

Almost every day when I woke up, I always asked myself what can BoLASEPaKO.com do to help Singapore football? Honestly speaking, I didn't see myself asking that question when I set up my first version of the platform using a free website provider back in December 1996.  The special "Juli Perak" logo will complete its mission soon After all, the nucleus of this platform is to allow me to share my views on local football after I was, all of a sudden, repeatedly denied from posting my views on an online forum. Furthermore, the updating of the site was done from a public terminal, which was subjected to availability, and maintaining its consistency was a challenge, as compared to these days when it can be done easily on the move. I would say the breakthrough came in October 2005 when I decided to switch to the present format by using the online blogging tool for archival purposes instead of continuing of utilizing the now-defunct online website provider. Thus, it is most unfo