Player of the Season (2009)

In spite of Sengkang Punggol’s unsavory reputation as a football wasteland where waning careers come to wither and then die, time and again there are still that few who were able to flourish under the challenge and in the process, earned a place in the hearts of the Hougang faithfuls.

In our inaugural Player of the Season award, we managed to shortlist (seriously, it ain’t hard) five candidates worthy of being mentioned in the same breathe as legendary goalpoacher Steven Tan, flamboyant midfield enforcer Douglas Ithier, insanely skilful cult hero Bernard Aryee. Hyperbole really doesn’t work so well with the club’s minuscule stature.

AANyway now’s the time for you fans, cynics, poll crashers or the simply bored to make your vote count and nominate Sengkang Punggol Football Club’s Catch of the Season.

Poll closes on 22nd Nov.

Click away.

Bear Out of Woods

An article from Tan Yo-Hinn from TODAY piqued my interest:

Since operating as a foreign club based on a full strength of South Korean professionals, the Super Reds had mixed fortunes on the pitch and had been a real professional side who got their work done without much controversies and unwanted attentions.

Despite residing within the 10km circumference of Super Reds’ home turf, Yishun Stadium, I never fancied pulling a support to the all Korean side.
Striking a chord with my partner, we both found the Korean players looking very generic and despite dishing our spectacular football at times, the lack of individuality as well as the absence of association with the players always made watching Super Reds on TV a turn off.
This was perhaps a reason why the team failed to kindle the interest of the people around Yishun and Sembawang like their predecessors, Sembawang Rangers did.

I knew of a mate from college who was a staunch Stallions supporter who held the season ticket together with a bunch of close friends, and I could imagine their disappointment to see their beloved team fell to the credit crunch back in 2003.
The team who wore their signature black and white stripes much like Newcastle or Juventus had a good run in their latter years, especially under the tutelage of current Tampines Rovers head coach Vorawan Chitavanich and boasted the talents of Thai legend Tawan Sripan, no nonsense bulwark Niweat Siriwong, journeyman Akihiro Nakamura and a host of budding Singapore talents, the likes of Yazid Yasin, Noh Alam Shah, Ibrahim Noh, Shukor Zailan etc, many of whom followed Vorawan to Tampines after Sembawang’s demise.
Despite not able to challenge the big boys like Super Reds these days, they were much felt for by the local fans.

Therefore the crux of the matter for Super Reds chairman, Charlie Yoon who passionately devoted his time and effort to the club to make the decision to transform them into a local club aided by some key Korean imports was wise, if he was to draw more support from the people in the yawning town of Yishun.

I am sure with the emergence of Yishun Reds, the old Northern derby rivalry with Woodlands Wellington might be rekindled as well.

It also made sense if Mr Yoon had felt his club deserved to make in roads into the Asian scene if they could have a decent cup run or finish second in the league table.
Previously Super Reds was considered a foreign side, therefore they were being barred to enter any continental competition even if they had legitimately qualified.

So the author would be watching this pipe-dream with alot of interest. With a bulk of S League players being released from the club, they should not have problem netting a few good players in the market.
Current coach Jeong Kyun Joon had done a decent job as the motivator by the sideline despite his booming command can be intimidating for his players, the opposing party and spectators alike; it would be interesting if he could assemble a local side if he was to stay, which I hope it would.

So you never know if the projected Yishun Reds can do a decent job administratively and on the pitch, yours truly might dedicate sometime off for a side project, reprising the title of this post.

Transfer News (Season 2010)

According to the good people at The Voyageurs, Sengkang Punggol has secured the services of Canadian JORDAN WEBB.

The 21 year old arrives after a personal successful season with Toronto Lynx of the USL Premier Development League, where he was named Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year for the club.

He will team up with fellow countryman MURPHY WIREDU, who signs on for another season.

Thailand 1 : Baihakki 2 : Singapore 1

After a week long of media build up for the crucial Asian Cup qualifying game to be held at Kallang Stadium against our most bitter ASEAN rivals (well Malaysia not in the same league as us for long long time now), there was an air of anticipation for the Lions to do the job at home before taking the driving seat to Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok on Wednesday.

It turned out to be faux pas as the team Raddy selected played second fiddle to a Thai side under Manchester United legend Bryan Robson for the first time.

The final score did reflected the affairs on the pitch as the Thai deserved a win and perhaps by this much of our margin.
As 20000 fans including yours truly showed up for the game, sadly our team did not showed out.

From the word go, our team lack any shape and imaginative going up.
It turned out to be the pattern of our play for the remainder of the game as the players could not string 2 passes together before giving the ball away.
The crossing from the wings especially Ridhuan and Noh Rahman was slipshod while Duric and Noh Alam up front could not trap the ball with a yellow jersey wearing them like a second skin.
John Wilksinson had to drop very deep to dictate play but he and Mustafic were closed down very fast by the Thai midfielders throughout the first period.
In defense only Daniel Bennett and goalkeeper Hassan Sunny worthed a mention as Saiful Esah under the media glare since singlehandedly destroyed Indonesia in the meaningless friendly a week before with his setpieces looked shaken up by the occasion but he was still better than the former Geylang United pair Noh Rahman and Baihakki Khaizan.

Soon to be departing Sengkang Punggol, Noh Rahman gave his future employers a sign of how he had grown stagnant. He is good enough for the S League but on international scene, he was all downhill since valiant display against Lebanon many moons back.
He kept giving balls away and could not cope with the speed of the much older Sutee Suksomkit down the left flank and was the culprit for the first goal with the Japanese referee felt he intentionally put a hand to a ball from a corner which in the first place ought to be avoided. (Okay got enough evidence that Noh Alam was the culprit instead, but that did not take away the blame of Noh Rahman for a rather vapid display)

Then the weakest link of the game Baihakki Khaizan like Ridhuan Muhammad (and maybe the early departed Noh Alam Shah) had shown playing in the Indonesian Super League had done nothing to improve their reputation instead thwarting their game still.
Bai’s poor judgement allowed the Thai to score their second; then he looked marooned in his old world when Sutee beat the offside trap to score the third, by then the stadium looked 1/3 lighter as many disgusted fairweather fans had went for supper and wondered why they bothered spending 6 bucks and 70 minutes of their precious time here.

To add salt to our wound, the scorers for Thai were basically half Singaporean for the time they spent playing football here.
36 year old SAFFC midfield maestro Thersak Chaiman was a shock inclusion in Robson’s squad but he vindicated his inclusion with the second goal.
But it was Sutee Suksomkit who spent like a decade here with Tiong Bahru, Home United and subsequently Tampines Rovers before leaving for A League side Melbourne Victory recently, was the man of the match with his goals, running and constant menace up front as the remaining Thai team weren’t exactly hitting the right gear.

Many spectators were hurling scathing remarks on the Japanese referee but I felt he did a great job handling the game.
He was quick to respond to some fouls which were uncalled for and defuse many situations.
The only problem was that he turned down at least 3 clear cut handballs in the box from the Thai which looked more legitimate than the one awarded against us.
Perhaps he should show Baihakki his second yellow for his clueless lunges the entire evening.

As for the Changsuk, the nickname for the Thai team I was sorely irked by their playacting and time wasting antics on the pitch as they wound down a famous victory at the Ol’ Lady.
They had littered the match with alot of typical cramps and what not, forcing the Lions to break down their play (which was not many to begin with).
Taking 3 goals lead and coasting for the win, they argued incessantly when the referee awarded us a penalty on the blatant foul on Khairul Amri and led by their goalkeeper, they tried to distract Mustafic with delay and theater play.
As the king of ASEAN football (the Vietnamese will object), they should really cut down such acts and show the real side of football in them.

As for the Lions, another despondent display when the odds were stacked on them.
It was true the Thai contingent which accounted to about a thousand or so were in good voice which engulfed the feeble cheering from our own fans but how was we to cheer when there was nothing to cheer about.

It looked palpable that we would need another 4 years to try progressing into Asian Cup and let’s hope deadwood Duric would not be around by then.

Maybe Bai and Ridhuan too.

S.League 2009 Match 32 (30 if you are anal retentive)

	Opponent: Woodlands Wellington Date: 6th Nov, 1930hrs Venue: Jalan Besar Stadium Final Score: 2 – 1 (Farizal Basri 57′ (p), Murphy Wiredu 90‘ – Precious Emuejeraye 68′ (p))
Another escape from the depths of hell known as the bottom league position.   Starting Lineup Amos Boon (C) Zul Nor Farahin Nurhidayat Kamarudin Lau Meng Meng Nor Azli Yusoff (Sazali Salleh 63′) Ashley Ow (Azhar Baksin 50′) Farizal Basri Sobrie Mazelan (Isarel Tan 68′) Murphy Wiredu Abdoulaye Diallo Mamadou Diallo Substitutes Joey Sim Razali Johari Anthony Bahadur Something to Add from Wreckidigidy: A win finally but still a winless run in 17 games is really perturbing, although down inside the 2-1 win over DPMM will always be inside me no matter what FIFA or FAS say. It is obviously gratifying to see a team filled with 5 Prime League players in the starting line-up, 6 including reserve striker Israel Tan, but I shudder at the thought of Aide keeping this line-up for 2010. I always enjoy seeing young players getting their chance to play but truthfully the defense needed 2 strong, level headed players. I am sad to see Yamamoto not involved, and it might be sign they he is leaving. I hope Nur Azli is retained, his versatily would be needed. Of course the triumvirate of the Diallo brothers and Murphy Wiredu showed what they can do up front. If we can get a good midfielder to play down the middle and a real target man in front, this might work out well. Well paper talk again but thanks for the memories of 2009, some euphoric, mostly disappointment.

S.League 2009 Match 31 (or whatever screwup number it is now)

	Opponent: Young Lions Date: 31st Oct, 1930hrs Venue: Jalan Besar Stadium Final Score: 4 – 2 (Obadin Aikhena 2′(p), Fazli Ayob 21′, Khairul Nizam 33′, Gabriel Quak Jun Yi 66′ – Murphy Wiredu 3′, 9′)
For crying out loud, make the goalkeeper THE TOP SIGNING next season. Starting Lineup Amos Boon (C) Nurhidayat Kamarudin Darrel Tan Lau Meng Meng Jaspar Seet (Sobrie Mazelan 65′) Nor Azli Yusoff Ashley Ow Farizal Basri (Anthony Bahadur 75′) Murphy Wiredu Abdoulaye Diallo Mamadou Diallo Substitutes Joey Sim Razali Johari

Wrecki’s Monthly Review: October 2009

I really had my heart out for DPMM, not because they are one of few sides that are willing to be beaten by my wretched team but they had added so much color since joining our league, stepping on everyone’s tale, took the league by storm, snagged the League Cup, had 3 defenders suspended till forever, close to securing second and then been expunged because FAS did not dare to trifle with the mother ship.

Time and again I had said I was not a big fan of the Bruneians because like many I believed in only Singapore clubs to play in the S League plus making their home games so inaccessible was a absurd.

But personally I felt they should at least like the Bandar Seri Begawan side to finish the season with about 5 games left to play when their records had been rescinded.

SAFFC clinched their 4th S League title on the trot against Sengkang Punggol on live TV (but was quite amazed at how they had to work for it against a side which include Zul Nor Farahin, Ashley Ow, Jasper Seet and with Nor Azli as centernack, Farizal as striker and Sazali as leftback).
Their form sort of slated before the finishing line, sadly it came at the wrong time.

It is true I would like to see a new champion but cannot deny the fact that SAFFC still is the team that could grind the wins while their closest challengers falter when it matters the most.

The race for second place is still very much on as many cannot envision Geylang United lifting the Singapore Cup against a probably Bangkok Glass side who ran rampant over compatriots Samut Sahkon 6-0 in their semi final first leg.
Therefore if any of Tampines Rovers, Goombak United and Home United can clinch the bridesmaid role, they will particpate in the AFC Cup in 2010.

Talent wise I felt Home United should be a strong representative for the cup competition but with Sivaji at helms, they would never win anything and they knew it.
By the way legendary defender S Subramani, shrouded with injury the whole season long, finally declared on hanging up his boots. He would be a tough act to emulate and a big hole to fill for the Protectors for sure.

Tampines Rovers will be in for a major restructure for the new season now that even Sutee Suksomkit had joined A League side Melbourne Victory (albeit a short contract as stipulated).
The club and more specifically head coach Vorawan (so meaning he is staying?) stated that the new team’s nucleus will be on Hassan Sunny, Seiji Kaneko, Zul Zainal, Akihiro Nakamura, Shukor Zailan, Qiu Li and Khairul Amri, so I would not be surprised the likes of Benoit Croissant, Shariff Samat, Fathi Yunos etc be ushered out as part of the renewing process.
Gangly Croissant had got some A League sides interested.

Gombak United might be the weakest among the 3 but I felt if they can lure a good center midfielder, they might do pretty well next season as well as long as the likes of Obatola, Agu, Bah, Shevki and Jeremy stay.

Young Lions roused themselves up nicely and now should claim 9th place in the new 11 team table structure.
A bulk of that squad travel to Vietnam for some Newspaper Cup and were knocked out in the semi final against Vietnam U19 before losing the 3rd placing by the Viet U21 side.
I am still not convinced these youngsters will do any well in the SEA Games in Laos next month, but then as they said football is round.

The senior Lions also traveled to Vietnam to participate in a Ho Chi Minh City Cup which featured the likes of the host nation, former USSR constituent Turkmenistan and a Korean University Selection side.
The Lions scraped through against the Korean undergrads 1-0 before beating Turkmenistan 4-2.
Vietnam failed to make it 2 win out of 2 as the Koreans had beaten them, meaning they needed to beat Singapore by a big margin which they did not as it was 2-2 when the dust settled.
The makeshift Singapore national team had warmed the hearts of the fans back home which saw the likes of Khairul Amri, Fazrul Nawaz and Masrezwan Masturi scoring in the national colors since being recalled after their injury woes.

The build up to the hot-blooded double face off with the Thai, with new manager Bryan “Marvel” Robson coming in, had been boiling to the right temperature.
The final piece of preparation, a friendly with the Indonesian national side, would give Raddy the line up he will pick for the first game on the 14th of November.

It might involved the 4 players who had started their ISL career brightly, maybe not Ridhuan Muhammad.
Noh Alam Shah was slowly building a cult support at Arema as his tenacity and most importantly goals prompted them to the top of the table so far.
Precious would be heading south after the Singapore-Thai games but Aleksandar Duric made a U-Turn in joining the same club, stating the details on the contract differed from the initial agreement. That’s why always read between the lines.
Interest of the remaining national team players started to wane even before someone rang our club chairman for the interest on Jerry Bartholomeusz and Joey Sim…yah right.
However the likes of SAFFC’s Masahiro Fukazawa, Albirex’s Kenji Arai & Takatoshi Uchida and a player from Super Reds might be heading to Indonesia before the year is up.

In truth, the past 8 months had been tumultuous for myself following with Sengkang Punggol in the S League.
The league did stuttered a little before looking to be decent by the first round before the referee problem, waning attendance, SAFFC’s supremacy and players leaving the game.
The 2010 edition looked bleak for now and everyone yearned for an injection of new life, we just have to wait and see in the development.

Give Dez Corkhill the Rein

Came across this nice, concise interview done by Jakarta Casual TV with seasoned sports media man Dez Corkhill:

 

Amid the doom and gloom shrouding the local game of late, a persona like Dez still continue to pump in optimism as he did with his colorful commentary on Friday night football and never fell short in rendering his support for the S League and in general Singapore football.

The main shortcoming of our game was highlighted vividly through this interview done with the backdrop of that Old Lady in Kallang who refused to be torn down.

The authorities really needed to package the league to appeal to the masses and definitely TV is the best medium possible.
If Channel 5 can devote time for “Just fo Gags” or “World’s Funniest Animals”, they can definitely warrant 20 or 30 minutes twice weekly to give a short highlights of the S League.

In the crescendo of the existing pay tv tug of war over the English Premier League which was even brought up in our Parliament discussion, surely Starhub or Singtel could do a segment on S League as well?

FAS needed to work on their publicity and if you ask me please give it to Dez Corkhill who looked to be able to address the issue better than the incumbent in the ivory towers at Tywhitt Road.

This is new

This has got to be a first in any professional sports in this world: a national player with over a hundred caps and a key striker his struggling club is relying on to score goals, turning out in a school match.

Am I missing something here?

Indra Sahdan leads Nanyang Polytechnic to overcome ITE challenge in POL-ITE football

Feel free to leave your comments below.

S.League 2009 Match 30

	Opponent: SAFFC Date: 16th Oct, 1930hrs Venue: Jalan Besar Stadium Final Score: o – 1 (Aleksandar Duric 15′)
Starting Lineup Amos Boon (C) Lau Meng Meng Zul Nor Farahin (Murphy Wiredu 50′) Hiroyuki Yamamoto Jaspar Seet (Azhar Baksin 56′) Nor Azli Yusoff Ashley Ow Farizal Basri Sazali Salleh Abdoulaye Diallo Mamadou Diallo (Indra Sahdan Daud 64′) Substitutes Jerry Bartholomeusz Noh Rahman Joey Sim Israel Tan