Wrecki’s Monthly Review: August 2009

The repercussion of the Black Sunday when Home United mauled Brunei DPMM at Hassanal Bolkiah 6-1 after the Wasps had 3 players sent off with alteration with the referee K. Kalimuthu while Tampines Rovers chairman Teo Hock Seng instigated crowd trouble over the unjust dished out by the officials in their 1-2 home lost to bitter title rivals SAFFC, was that FAS clamped down hard on the clubs to pick on the men in black (or green) with alot of cover up for their ineptitude which was persistent for the entire season.

Ultimately the likes of defenders Sallehuddin Damit, Rene Komar and Yusof Salleh got a suspension from all FAS-sanctioned tournaments for a period of 6 to 15 months. The latter got the let off of the lot.

Tampines Chairman Teo got a touchline ban for the remainder of the season. With his stature within the local football fraternity, I thought the punishment was about right.

So what happened to those referees in doubt i.e. Kalimuthu and Muhd Taqi. They got the backing of the head of the refereeing committee Jeffery Beh who petulantly slammed the clubs for behaving like boorish barbarians.
Well the level of refereeing in Singapore football had always been torrid and this year reached the all time low; much due to the lack of interest and quality in the ranks.
But then again we should not push those officials too much..Imagine they went on strike, then who will officiate the matches? I bet Simunic would love to do it himself.

Singapore crossed swords with the fast-improving China for the inaugural National Day Challenge at the National Stadium and never looked like being refurbished anytime soon.
Under the guidance of the new national coach, former Tiong Bahru striker Gao Hong Bo, a second string Chinese side came to Singapore, looking full of purpose despite going down to an early goal from Noh Alam Shah.
After equalizing from a header by midfielder Yang Hao, the Chinese definitely dominated play on the pitch with better passing and definitely higher level of fitness.
We were kept from being humiliated by the agility of Hassan Sunny though there was little the Tampines custodian could do to stop the Chinese to snag the Mickey Mouse cup from the penalty shootout.

It had been growing concern of our national team whom we assume had reached a plateau in terms of performance after Raddy guided them to the 3rd AFF Cup in 2007 and the 3rd Round of World Cup Qualifying.
Without Shi Jiayi and Fahruddin Mustafic, our midfield just lacked the bite with Hariss Harun and John Wilkinson not looking like the right combination.
There was no one else left to step up to challenge the incumbents in the national color with Raddy fear his senior side unable growing complacent.

It does look like the football of our island nation is entering another dark age with the possibility of us being knocked out of Asian Cup qualification come November in the double biller against Thailand as well as the lowest ever finish in the SEA Games since I could remember with what this current batch of Young Lions had been showing.
I am even being optimistic with this prediction.

With ailing support from the local fans as well as the lack of talent coming through, can we say we are going to reign football in the region in the future?

One of the accolade which FAS had been harping up week in week out was of course our S League being the top ten league in Asia.
With the new AFC ruling for any ACL participating league, the minimum average attendance has to be at 5,000.
Perhaps it was the beginning of another season of the English Premier League in combination with foul weather as well as the month of Ramadan, attendance had been appalling for the past 2 weeks with the 564 for the match at Yishin Stadium between Super Reds and Balestier Khalsa perhaps the lowest since Dalian was still around last season.
And if an Eastern derby between Geylang United and Tampines Rovers can command less than a thousand spectators, something definitely is wrong with the appeal of the S League as the season progressed.

I would say one good reason was that SAFFC was running away with the league title for the 4th year running while the likely usurpers all going through a rough patch with the exception of one Home United who themselves had choked far too often earlier in the season.

Secondly beside the usual punters, many casual spectators like myself would engage in a self epiphany on what sort of enjoyment one gets while paying money to watch a live game.
Well if you are a supporters of a wretched club like Sengkang Punggol, it is hard to fathom even for myself.

Maybe save that $5 and do something more productive as I have mentioned. Hey it definitely looked more appealing sadly, especially I now have to bite my tongue with my list of reasons to catch the S League live during pre-season.

Unless the organizing committee stop resting on their laurels and try to improve thousand and one issues one can find fault of the current status of the S League (i.e. quality of players, the stadium, the referees etc), I would not be surprise if the 13 year old league might meet its timely demise eventually.

S. League 2009 Match 25

	Opponent: Geylang United FC Date: 19th Aug, 1945hrs Venue: Hougang Stadium Final Score: 0 – 3 (Masrezwan Masturi 2′, 14′, Yasir Hanapi 10′)
Number of losses Sengkang Punggol suffered at Hougang Stadium this season: 5 Number of points lost to Geylang United this season: 7 Number of goals Sengkang Punggol conceded from setpieces from the Eagles this season: 4 Number of minutes The Eagles took to Score 3 goals: 14 Number of goals Yasir Hanapi scored at Hougang this season: 3 (inclusive of one in Prime League, also within 10 minutes of the game) Number of penalty kicks we had missed at Hougang Stadium this season: 4 Amount of tolerance I have left of the team after this: nearly zero Ultimately the visitors gave us a hiding due to our shambolic defending in that 15 minutes as we simply could not cope with the speed of the Geylang’s attack. The Eagles did not played exceptionally well but were playing to their potential. Their defense marshalled by Seto, Balicak and with safe pair of hands of Yazid had proved to cover the area much better than our defensive unit. Their attacks were speedy and made direct passes that were more threatening that those wasteful string of passes from our own players. If we had managed to convert the slew of chances in both halves especially the latter stage of the second half and had Azhar Baksin did not made a meal out of another decent spotkick, we might actually had won it. I should perhaps heed the advice from my partner and spend my precious time to do something more productive than attending live matches which reaped nothing but heartaches in the future.

Sengkang Punggol vs Geylang Utd : Pre-match

I had an epiphany after reading the official preview of this game from S League.com about Aide Iskandar’s first ten game since taking over the rein as the head coach in June, had he been doing any better during the slipshod Jorg Steinbrunner’s era?

Statistics-wise it had not been any better with only 1 win and 3 draws which accounted for merely 6 points out of a possible 30 in those 10 games.
Jorg’s point accumulation from his first 10 games was 8 from 2 wins and 2 draws which was not spectacular as well.

However the noticeable difference if you had watched enough games through the season to compare was that the team had now built a steely grit in their play unlike the beginning of the season when we had been shipping cheap goals which proved costly.

Since Aide took over the team had not lost by more than a 2 goals margin, that was to SAFFC away at Choa Chu Kang Stadium which was a stark improvement from that 1-7 fiasco at home.
Jorg’s initial ten games saw us conceding 21 goals in the league while scoring 9 while it was also 9 goals scored under Aide but the number of goals conceded was 14.

Defensively the team had been playing to the tactics which I feel could be the introduction of Amos Boon between the sticks, the conversion of Abdoulaye into a sweeper, introduction of Shane Neubronner and Lau Meng Meng as stoppers and Noh Rahman and Nor Azli Yusoff forming the shield in the middle of the park.
But in the attacking sense although it was nice to see the likes of Raymond, Hiro and Azhar opening their accounts, Indra Sahdan had yet to score in those games can be an issue.

On Wednesday, with Indra Sahdan out of the equation due to his suspension, we will see if the team can improve on Aide’s stats.

Against Geylang United this season, we had not played too badly in 2 games but were let down by pretty horrendous marking from setpieces (in the 2-2 draw) and insipid goalkeeping (in the 0-2 lost at Bedok Stadium).
We definitely need to step it up against a more consistent Eagles at home, with or without Indra Sahdan.
Azhar Baksin has been looking rejuvenated of late and had controlled midfield well with his experience and been deadly from setpieces; I would fancy him doing more damage in the upcoming games.
Mamadou Diallo and Raymond Lim had shown they could mix with the big boys and both should provide the attacking impetus together with Murphy Wiredu up front.
I wonder Aide would give Anthony Bahadur a chance to shine in Indra’s absence if not his departure might be seemingly imminent.
Abdoulaye’s return from suspension will be crucial to help Meng Meng and Jerry out in defense.

Haruki Seto is enjoying a purple patch in his new midfield row, that saw him scoring in consecutive games but the pace of Geylang’s attack in the likes of Noor Ali, Kim Jae Hong, Syed Thaha, Yasir Hanapi and the Maserezwan brothers had to be taken note of.
We also should not forget how Ashrin Shariff had the tendency to score against the club that gave him his first professional contract.

Geylang would be yearning for a win to close the point difference with Super Reds in the 6th place to 1 but we also had to grab as many points as we could in this home tie as well as the next 2 against Super Reds and Balestier Khalsa if we want to finish in a respectable mid table placing at the end of the season.

S. League Season 2009 – Match 24

	Opponent: Albirex Niigata (S) FC Date: 14th Aug, 1930hrs Venue: Jalan Besar Stadium Final Score: 2 (Kenji Adachihara 2′, Kunihiro Honda 55′) – 1 (Raymond Kwa 59′)
A goal down after merely 2 minute and with Indra Sahdan, the team captain and top goalscorer receiving his career first dismissal for a blatant slap on Atsushi Shimono within 10 minutes, it all looked destined for us to return to Hougang with the White Swans running the riot. However with 10 men, our Dolphins upped their game especially when Mamadou Diallo came on for Nor Azli Yusoff as Aide, with his face well cringed and coughing profusely throughout was not ready to let the Japanese youngsters had their way. Our 19 year old Guinean striker added his presence to help Murphy Wiredu up front with Azhar Baksin stringing things together. Mamadou had the best chance for Sengkang Punggol in the first half when he won the ball with his raw physicality in the box but a shot at the byline was an angle too acute to trouble Matsuhsita in Albirex goal. Meanwhile our defense lacking the likes of Yamamoto and Abdoulaye had been shoddy and consistently giving Albirex space to exploit and they nearly could be 3 goals up if Adachihara who scored in the 2nd minute chipped the ball over Amos but saw his shot cannoning off the crossbar and off the goal line as well as a Kazuki Yoshino’s header which was hacked off the line by Farizal Basri. The game looked dead and buried when the White Swans who had dominated proceeding since the start of second half, got their deserving second with Kunihiro Honda scored off a Ken Matsumoto’s cross. Once again it was lax marking as Zahid Ahmad was nowhere to be seen to mark his man. On came Raymond Kwa, a winger packed with speed and enthusiasm and was starting to be a menace on the left wing, forcing Yoshino to go into the book of referee Abdul Malik Bashir before shmmering the ball past Matsushita after teed off by Murphy Wiredu. Our team was back with a shout and could easily level things when Azhar Baksin, certainly enjoying a reinassance under the tutelage of former Home United and National team team-mate Aide Iskandar shown he still had the intelligence and ball distribution, as his free kick picked out an unmarked Jerry Bartholomeusx who headed forcefully towards goal. It got Matsushita beaten but not the crossbar. Tough luck for the 35 year old former Woodlands man. Albirex had the ball in the next for the 3rd time when substitute Tetsuya Kishida headed off a decent cross but he was judged offside by the assistant referee. Aide was screaming for his boys to keep the pressure up in Albirex half and another Azhar’s freekick needed a touch from anyone before it was bloacked off by Matsushita’s body. So Albirex finally won against teh Dolphins in 3 attempts this season as well as finally won on live TV programming but nothing could be took it away from our courageous team for putting such a display with the correct attitude and fighting spirit and once again not helped by bad luck. Without Indra Sahdan for the next 2 games against Geylang United and Tampines Rovers, we just needed the young guns like Raymond and Mamadou to step up and they did not looked daunted by the challenge for sure.

Albirex Niigata (S) vs Sengkang Punggol : Pre-match

After 10 days of rest for our team and 11 days for the White Swans, fatigue will definitely should not be an excuse for the clash of the 9th and 10th placing team in the S League.
It might be a snoozefest if the teams do not get in gear after such a hiatus.

Perhaps with the exception of Noh Rahman who had 45 minutes against China in the National Day Challenge yesterday.

Albirex who was shrouded with a flu bug had managed to get all their players suffering from the influenza back to training and in contention to play tomorrow at Jalan Besar Stadium.
Seemingly they are also free from any suspension meaning the attack made up of Kenji Adachihara, Taisuke Akiyoshi and Akira Takase will be eager to help their team to finally beat us this season.

As for us the visiting team, it was stated that Hiroyuki Yamamoto had flown back to Japan to treat his dislocated shoulder, thus surely will not be available to square up against his former team.
Jerry Bartholomeusz the only available senior centerback is also a doubt with injury while the sweepr of late Abdoulaye Diallo is serving a one match suspension.
It definitely did not bode well in terms of the the defense which had kept clean sheets in the past 2 games.
I suspect Shane Neubronner, Noh Rahman and Lau Meng Meng would be elected as the replacement defensive shield unless Aide is willing to shed his tracksuits from the sidelines and returned to the pitch which is highly unlikely.

Our attack had been blunt with Indra Sahdan still finding that elusive goal since June. But with the winners against Albirex in the previous 2 fixtures, he will hope to emulate that scoring routine against the Japanese side.
With Yamamoto’s absence and Abdoulaye’s suspension, I am sure the other 3 foreign talents would be enlisted to play a part up front.
The athletism of Murphy and Mamadou are well documented, they just need to up their goal count. As for gangly Anthony Bahadur, beside being a fan favorite (perhaps due to the time he spent on the sideline), he needed to stake his claim as a starter.

Could Albirex (S) finally get a win on Friday Night Football this season? (Doubt they had done so against the likes of Gombak, SAF, Woodlands, Sengkang Punggol and Balestier)

Or could they be the first team to give us a clean slate of league victories in a S League season? (I need to open the archives to check on that though)

Lianhe Zhaobao Interview with Marine Castle Legend Steven Tan Part 2

In this concluding part of Steven Tan’s hearty chat with Lianhe Zhaobao repoter, Lan Zhi Hong as he delved into his years playing in the S League as well as a topic which tugged his heart string.

**************************************************************************************************

The S League begun life in 1995 but Steven Tan had to sit through the sophomore year due to injury. In the following Steven signed on with Tiong Bahru Football Club where he would stay for 6 seasons.
When the new upstart coach Tohari Paijan took over the reins of head coach, he decided to revamp the playing squad which did not feature the likes of Steven, centerback Lim Tong Hai and goalkeeper Dragan Talajic, forcing them to find prospective clubs to pledge allegiance to.
BY 2004, the club by then had renamed to Tanjong Pagar United would have to withdraw from participation of the S League due to financial difficulties.
“The mass exodus of the key players perhaps would be the main catalyst to the demise of the club,” Steven suggested.

After hanging up his boots in 2005 with Tampines Rovers (observed that he ignored mentioning Marine Castle), Vorawan Chitanavich, the head coach of the Stags recommanded Steven to assume the role of the Prime League coach.
Training for the youngsters would ensure on 5 pm every evening on weekdays for a span of 2 hours each. During weekends the team will be competing in the Great Eastern Prime League.
Currently the former international is undertaking a Class “A” coaching license course with the likes of former team mates, Abbas Saad, Aide Iskandar and Nazri Nasir and projected to complete by June or July 2010.
When asked if he would be interested to coach a S League team, he replied, “I’m still too novice and required a lot of learning and space for progression. Of course it would be great if an opportunity of that sort arises.”

Steven enjoyed the flexibility of his current job which allows him to pick his children for tution classes as well as buying groceries. His elder daughter is 11 years old while his son is 7 this year.
“Me and my wife will be celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary this year,” Steven mentioned with sparkle in his eyes.

Regardless of place of birth, childhood, falling in love till coaching football now, Steven had been well associated to teh eastern part of the island which allows the reporter to brand him the moniker of “the eastern boy”.
After the interview, Steven gave a buzz to his maid to enquire on what’s cooking for dinner on that day then nonchalently mentioned, “I will need to go buy the ingredients later.”

The Super Sub of yesteryear had now transformed into a fitful husband and a doting father.

In order to raise a portion of that hefty 500 thousand dollars medical fee for four year old Charmaine Lim who was suffering from neuroblastoma and now in the midst of her 4th stage chemotherapy, Steven and a bulk of the Malaysia Cup dream team had a charity match against a team made up of local celebrities on 28th June at Tampines Stadium.

Steven personally felt that the match bears profound meaning and an avenue for footballers to contribute to the society which id in dire need of help.
Just then the reporter decided to link Charmaine’s predicament with the fate of a girl by the name of Iyana. The smile on Steven’s face instantaneously smudged off as he revealed sorrow through his facial expression.

Iyana was an avid fan of Steven who suffered from hemophilia or disorder in bleeding which would become uncontrollable and devoid of clotting. Iyana tragically passed on on the morning of 1st of April 1996 due to internal bleeding at a tender age of 8.

A painful memory which Steven reluctantly reminiscenced.
“When I went to visit her in the hospital, Iyana’s parents were so helpless but somehow they knew it was inevitable for her passing on. Compared to Iyana, there is a higher chance of full recovery for Charmaine.”

“Iyana’s parents would still dropby Queenstown Stadium (Tiong Bahru’s home ground) to cheer me on during live matches. I would also visit them at their place in Tanglin on every Hari Raya Puasa…” Steven choking back on emotion before finishing his sentence.
“Well that’s life.”

Steven Tan’s Stats

- International Caps/ International Goals: 49 matches/ 11 goals

- First cap for Singapore: 25th November 1992

- S League career: Tiong Bahru Football Club (1996 – 2001)
Marine Castle Football Club (2002 -2003)
Tampines Rovers Football Club (2004 – 2005)

Lianhe Zhaobao Interview with Marine Castle Legend Steven Tan Part 1

Steven Tan, the striker cum winger which we known more affectionately as the “Super-Sub” before there was Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

In the recently concluded poll on the most memorable local footballing talent for the Dolphins, Steven Tan came in a close second to Amos Boon.

Despite hanging his boots in 2005 with Tampines Rovers, the former footballing great was still closely associated with the local game as a youth coach for the Stags and now in the process of acquiring his higher education in coaching.

Keeping a low profile, you would only spot Steven out of the media spotlight whenever possible but he did granted Lianhe Zhaobao’s reporter, Lan Zhi Hong a comprehensive interview as seen here.

Much thanks to Cloud from Kallang Roar for the head’s up and I will translate the entire interview for the benefit to those who have no command in simplified Chinese while I hone my bilingual skill.

I will break down the interview into 2 parts due to the impressive length of it, so here goes part 1 when Steven talked about his childhood, his love for football and his time with the Singapore Team playing in the Malaysia Cup:

****************************************************************************************************

A few days back while encountering former Singapore international footballer Steven Tan leisurely shopping around with his family at Parkway Parade Shopping Center, flashes of nostalgia gushed into me of the good ol’ Malaysia Cup days.
At that instant, I brewed the idea to have an exclusive interview with the former Malaysia Cup hero.

We proceeded with the interview at a fast food restaurant at East Coast Park.
Do not be mistaken, 39 year old Steven did not have a fetish for fast foot,
Despite hanging up his boots years ago, Steven is still highly conscious about maintaining a healthy diet. “When I consume meat, I will abstain from taking the skin as well (I hope he is talking about poultry here).”
The choice of location for the interview was due to the fact that East Coast Park is where Steven would go for his regular jogging after dropping off his wife from her work as a supervisor in a pre-school nursery.

Steven that revealed with a blissful beam across his face that he had first met his missus at the age of 17 iin your classic Saint Patrick boy-Katong Convent girl love story. (Wow machiam like Romeo & Juliet)

His passion for football began since his childhood. Steven’s formative years were spent living in Jalan Singa (around Bedok Reservior) and received primary school education at Haixin Primary.
He was described as a “weirdo” for possessing the knack of looking for grass patch for a kick about. He was groomed in a football-frenzy family who had been well captivated by the forays of Quah Kim Song and their all-conquering Singapore side of the 1970s.

At the tender age of 8, Steven was brought to train with adults at Mountbatten Football Club. Through arrangement made by Mountbatten, Steven would relish the chance to be a ball picker at the National Stadium.
Overwhelmed by the electrifying atmosphere of the home crowd in the live matches at the Grand Lady, Steven would make a vow to play at this stage when his time arrived.

By 16, Steven had been featuring dominantly in the Mountbatten squad who was plying their trade in the Nationwide (Islandwide?) Football League, under the tutelage of the late legendary coach Yusoff (not sure of the full name).
Unfortunately like all Singapore male, Steven would have to commit to the mandatory national service stint. In those 2 years with the army, his football career was hanging on a balance as he was ushered into a football wilderness in his Artillery Unit which focused more on volleyball (volleyball was the in sport back in the 1980s due to a SBC drama production).

“I was so envious of my friends who could represent the Singapore Armed Forces Sports Association (SAFSA) football contingent,” opined the diminutive ex international.

After fulfilling his national commitment, Steven still had the yearning to play football on regular basis and joined Premier League side, Tyrwhitt Soccerites which proved pivotal to propel him into the national team setup.
During that time (circa 1992) the Malaysia League-participating Singapore team was coached by Czech Milous Kvacek who was bold enough to rope in some green but talented players the likes of Steven, Zakaria (Awang?) and Saswadimata Dasuki.

After representing Singapore (state) Team in the Malaysia League and Cup, Steven Tan began to won the hearts of the local fans with the role as “super sub”.
During that period, whenever the attacking line-up of Singapore could not deliver, tens of thousands of Singapore fans in the crowd would expressed their impatience to cajole the coach to make the right choice: bring Steven Tan into action.
His tantalizing crosses and strike rate had bode well with the Lions faithfuls, galvanizing his position as the substitute that counts in the hearts of the supporters.

During that time, the Lions were filled with talents, limiting Steven’s role to cameo in the latter stage but that did not put him off as he gave his all which was well endeared among those who had the pleasure to watch him play.
“I was caught in doldrums back then. The fans had too high an expectation on me, that is to create a miracle each time which in turn was a form of pressure while the various coaches felt I lack what it takes to last the entire game,” recalled Steven.

On the faithful night of 17th December 1994, Singapore gave Pahang a comprehensive beating with an illustrious score of 4-0 at Shah Alam Stadium to claim the elusive Malaysia Cup which was 14 years in the making.
That achievement also gave the Lions the accolade of League and Cup double winner.
Steven cheekily stated that they were more famous than TCS (now Mediacorp) artistes back then and would enjoy priviledges at hawker centers and restaurants.

However the most memorable moment in his career would be the 1993 SEA Games where he notched 5 goals en route to a bronze medal. Till today he felt that was the team which possessed the best opportunity to grab the long awaited gold medal.

While being asked about his former team mates of that 1994 Malaysia Cup dream team, Steven could not contain his excitement in waxing lyrical of the talented batch of players.
“Fandi Ahmad and Abbas Saad were a match made in heaven. Their presence would sent fear to opposing defenders who will keep them well marked, giving me and Lee Man Hon the window of opportunity to sneak in a goal or two. Malek Awab was like the father figure who ensure the team stayed united. Usually after matches, the entire squad would hit Bencoolen Street for tea. During our time away from the pitch, we would often organize outings at each others’ place.”

Steven emphasized that there was no factions in that squad unlike many S League squads and even the national team these days.

After the impressive haul in 1994, heacd coach Douglas Moore from New Zealand predicted that the dream team would hog the limelight in the Malaysia League scene.
Little would he or his team expected what transpired after that famous win as the Football Association of Singapore pulled out of the competition.
“Everyone in the squad was bitterly disappointed. We surely missed playing in front of a regular crowd of 30- to 40 thousand spectators, a feeling which was almost indescribable. Whenever we played at Kelantan, plastic bottles filled with urine hurled from the crowd would be a common sight. The players these days surely lack such a grand stage to hone their skills at.”

****************************************************************************************************

Part 2 of the interview will have Steven chronicalized his playing time in the S League as well as a little fan, Iyana.
So stay tuned.

S League 2009 Match 23

	Opponent: Gombak United Date: 4th Aug 2009, 1945hrs Venue: Hougang Stadium Final Score: 0 – 0
Not the most pleasing of games for the eyes to be honest, but still great to be on hand to witness the Dolphin’s continual growth, particularly the team’s organisation and the ceaseless determination from the players. A fair result for two evenly matched teams. Not a good omen Azhar looks a transformed player under Aide Another classy performance from sweeper Abdoulaye Kingsley and Agu kept at bay all night by the organised defence Everyone rallies together and defends as a team Starting lineup vs Gombak United Wrecki’s Thoughts 2 points lost? Some would felt so when Murphy missed that penalty kick but I was not too bothered by the miss to be truthful. I was crossing my fingers when the Canadian stepped up to take responsibility for the spotkick when skipper Indra Sahdan felt his recent niggling injury might had stifling his progress. Murphy took a sweet shot from the spot but found the upright very uncooperative sadly. Maybe it was signs from the start that both side should settle for the draw,but a point did neither side any help. Without Hiro who was out with his dislocated shoulder, we can take heart with our valiant defense orchestrated by an impressive Abdoulaye kept Obatola, Agu and co. at bay the entire game as they never really got it going. With 5 men spread at the back anchored with Noh Rahman and Nur Azli Yusoff, our team looked set to absorb the Bulls’ relentless attack like a sponge and hope to expurge with some counter attack of our own. We nearly did twice in the first half when Indra took the ball past Zakaria Nerani but failed to put the ball into the empty net. The other would be from Murphy who was full of running in the first period. The visiting team of course was deadly in attack with Agu and Kingsley constantly winning physical and aerial battle over our vertically-challenged stoppers like Shane and Meng Meng but we always have the extra man to do the cleaner role. They had the ball in the net but Kingsley was caught offside before I think it was Obatola who headed the ball towards goal early on. Amos did well to make a few crucial saves including a one on one balking from Agu (I think ) as well an audacious chip in that nearly sneaked into the underside of the crossbar before Amos tipped it over. Abdoulaye’s last minute crunching tackle on Fazli or Shafuan was uncalled for and now he would miss the next game against Albirex after picking his 7th yellow card of the season. A game which neither could score the elusive goal but I felt our side had progressed considerably which will get better in the games to come. Here is an interview with Amos Boon taken by Pohui from BoLASEPaKO and generously shared with us here in Fish out of Water. Finally a rant on FAS. I actually brought my colleagues to come grace this game as I tried to pique their interest in the local game. We actually paid for the game and being a keen photographer he felt he would like to hone his skill taking live football action with his digital SLR before he was stopped firstly by a stalwart then a personnel supposedly from the organizing committee. They mentioned that his camera was too professional to be snapping leisurely in the game. Seriously, he was by no mean taking it for commercial purpose but if he ever do post it online, it would be to honor the beauty of the local game. It was tad too shameful to put people down like that and yet they dare to say they want to encourage people to come down the stadium to enjoy the football. Just truly sick of the people in the office of late…

Men with pen

Something interesting came to my attention last night as I was compiling match statistics from the official S.League site. The match report between Tampines and SAFFC didn’t quite read the same from what I digested in the morning. With my curiosity piqued I tried to find out more. Lo and behold, it was indeed edited, and pretty substantial too, given how the attention is now cast to another party.

 Read on and form your own opinion.

 

Original S.League match report

Furious Tampines Rovers fans vented their anger at the match officials after they witnessed their beloved side crash 2-1 to league leaders Singapore Armed Forces (SAFFC) at home in an intense top-of-the-table clash on Sunday.

They were initially silenced when a brace from Warrior left winger Park Tae Won within seven minutes in the middle of the first half put the visitors ahead before Stags substitute Akihiro Nakamura pulled one back to give them a glimmer of hope that never was.

Referee Muhd Taqi’s inexperience in handling such a fiery encounter frayed nerves among the 2,195-strong crowd when he sent off home favourite Noh Alam Shah with less than 20 minutes to go for a challenge on SAFFC goalkeeper Shahril Jantan.

Further calls from the nervous man in the middle left the entire ground in disapproval and emotions finally spilled over after the match when aggrieved home fans, players and management, upset with his officiating, made their feelings known to the referees.

While Taqi’s decisions had no real bearing in the final outcome, they were too much to bear for the heartbroken fans who felt their heroes were harshly treated by the officials.

Tampines went into the match looking to bounce back from their 3-0 setback against Albirex Niigata (Singapore) on Thursday and close the gap between themselves and their opponents at the league summit.

However, coach Vorawan Chitavanich was forced to reshuffle his lineup with Qiu Li and Ridhuan Muhammad suspended for the big game.

Alam Shah returned to the starting eleven to partner alongside Aliff Shafaein in attack while skipper Fahrudin Mustafic resumed his duties at central midfield.

Japanese midfielder Akihiro Nakamura made the bench together with Khairul Amri, who had recovered from a pre-season foot injury to be part of the matchday squad for the first time this season.

SAFFC tactician Richard Bok kept faith with the same men who played to a goalless home draw against DPMM FC in their previous game and were looking to end their mini two-match run without a win.

The home side wasted no time taking the game to their opponents from the first whistle, with Aliff coming close on two occasions in giving the fans something to shout about.

But disaster struck after the quarter-hour when a solo run from Park on the left evaded defenders Shariff Abdul Samat and Satria Mad before he shot past Stags goalkeeper Hassan Sunny on the edge of the box.

Worse was to come for Tampines seven minutes later when a Zulfadli Zainal Abidin cross on the left was met by Aleksandar Duric whose header crashed against Hassan’s left-hand post.

Park was the most alert to the loose ball as he took advantage of the non-existent marking in the Tampines box to volley home and give the Warriors a 2-0 lead. 

Sensing that Imran Sahib was overwhelmed on the right flank that had cost his side two goals, Vorawan sent on Nakamura just before the half hour to provide more aggression in attack

In response, Mustaqim Manzur was withdrawn in place of Hafiz Osman as a precaution after he picked up a slight hamstring pull.

Nakamura’s introduction breathed some life into the Tampines attack as his frequent raids on the right caused many problems for the SAFFC defence.

But the suspensions were felt by the home side as they lacked the final penetration to breach the visitors and rarely attacked on the left as much as they did on the other side.

Two goals down at the break, whatever was said inside the confines of the Tampines dressing room seemed to have an effect on the team as they came out early and looked determined to push their way through in the second half.

Five minutes after the restart, Kaneko nearly turned it into reality when he burst his way through on the left and crossed for Alam Shah, whose header flew over.

On the other end, Hafiz came close to sealing the game for SAFFC in quick time as he saw his first attempt hit the side netting and the second deflected by Shariff, with Hassan scrambling to save.

These were the only serious efforts the visitors would muster in the second half as they were content to hold on to their lead and see out the match.

Nakamura had other ideas though when he latched on a Sutee Suksomkit cross on the left to thump the ball at the far post into the underside roof of the net and set up a tense finale in the 67th minute.

The Stags were spurred by his contribution and piled on relentless pressure as they sought another goal to even the scores.

Their task for grabbing an equalizer went further uphill three minutes later when Alam Shah slid in to challenge for the ball against Shahril.

Although Tampines were a man down, they developed a siege mentality and continued their attacks, with Amri coming in late on for his first appearance of the season.

He came closest to sniffing the second goal when he was put through by Sutee in the dying minutes of the game, only to see his attempt hit the side netting.

While several subsequent calls against Tampines by the referee had the partisan crowd mad at them, it was his booking against Shariff for an illegal challenge on Shahril in injury time that broke the camel’s back.

Stags chairman Teo Hock Seng had to be restrained by the club coaching staff at the final whistle as he confronted the match officials and referee assessor while the furious fans voiced their displeasure at the handling of the game.

Upset club coach Vorawan questioned whether a more experienced referee could have put the tense situations under control.

“When the top two are playing, a more experienced FIFA referee is required. The referee is young, relatively inexperienced and does not have a FIFA badge, although I cannot say whether it is wrong or not to have him taking this game,” he said.

The usually mild-mannered Thai highlighted the Alam Shah and Shariff incidents to quiz the poor state of affairs by the referees.

“I am not an expert, but having studied physical education, I understand the rules well enough,” he continued.

“While we lost, the referees must do their part to ensure the game is fair.

“I never believed this was a red card for Alam Shah. He did not touch the goalkeeper, but the goalkeeper delayed the game and wasted time.

“Shariff used his head to challenge for the ball against the goalkeeper. If he had used the hand or knee to do that, the referee would be correct to give the foul and yellow. But he just used his head.

“The chairman spent so much money to build a good team. The referees then made the mistakes that cost us and later went to apologize.

“They can say sorry, but the result cannot be changed and it is too late.”

Vorawan also admitted the defensive mistakes that resulted in a Park brace was a tough task for them to overcome, but insisted they would fight to the end despite the eight-point gap.

“The goals we let in were too soft, too easy, especially the second one. The confidence was hard hit after we allowed Park all the time to score,” he lamented.

“With a full squad, the game would have been a more even, exciting contest. Tonight we missed Benoit (Croissant) at the back and Qiu Li and Ridhuan up front.

“When the suspensions and injuries are over, the team will be very strong. We will try our best to regain the form that put us in second now and push for the title.”

His SAFFC counterpart Bok refused to be drawn into the officiating, but was delighted with a hard-fought win that distanced themselves from the chasing pack at the top.

“Cool and composed heads gave us the win and the players gave a disciplined and professional performance,” he said.

“The team did well defensively and we did not hurry the game. With the numerical advantage we had after the red card, we just kept our cool and the ball as much as we could.”

Despite the victory, he acknowledged the stern test Tampines gave and backed them to push his men all the way in the title race.

“Tampines are still a good team despite the loss and Sutee gave us many problems tonight,” he added.

“He showed that with the one good cross he made to create their only goal and I put in Hafiz Osman in early to try and stifle him more on the left.

“While they, Gombak United and DPMM FC are still title challengers, I hope we can keep up the momentum and take it one game at a time to try and consolidate, possibly push away if we can too.”

Gary Koh

Edited S.League match report

Lapses in defensive concentration in the first half cost ten-man Tampines Rovers as they succumbed 1-2 to league leaders Singapore Armed Forces (SAFFC) at home in a crucial top-of-the-table clash on Sunday evening.

SAFFC winger Park Tae Won seized the advantage from the mistakes to score an early brace within seven minutes to put his side ahead, before Stags substitute Akihiro Nakamura pulled a goal back in the second half.

Any hopes of a home revival were dashed when Tampines forward Noh Alam Shah was sent off with 20 minutes to go for a contentious foul on Warriors goalkeeper Shahril Jantan.

Despite intense late pressure from the home side, the visitors held on for the win and extended their lead at the top to eight points with eleven games to go.

The defeat was too much to bear for the Tampines team, management and supporters, who vented their anger at the match officials after the game.

As the referees and the referee assessor made their way into the dressing room, they were pelted with paper and plastic bottles by irate fans who had stayed behind after the final whistle to make their feelings known.

Unlike previous meetings between the top two this season, the final outcome had absolutely nothing to do with Muhd Taqi’s decision-making in the game.

But that made no difference to the home team and fans, whose siege mentality got the better of them as they overlooked a poor outing by the Stags defence, preferring to blame their loss on external factors instead.

Tampines went into the match looking to bounce back from their 0-3 setback against Albirex Niigata (Singapore) on Thursday and close the gap between themselves and their opponents at the league summit.

Coach Vorawan Chitavanich was forced to reshuffle his lineup, with French defender Benoit Croissant sidelined through injury and suspensions to Qiu Li and Ridhuan Muhammad also leading to their absence.

Alam Shah returned to partner alongside Aliff Shafaein up front, while skipper Fahrudin Mustafic resumed his duties in central midfield alongside Shukor Zailan.

Nakamura once again made the bench together with Khairul Amri, who had recovered from a pre-season foot injury to be part of the matchday squad for the first time this season.

Meanwhile, SAFFC tactician Richard Bok kept faith with the same men who played to a goalless home draw against DPMM FC in their previous game as the team sought to ensure their goalless streak did not go beyond two games.

The match got off to a roaring start as Aliff came close twice to giving Tampines the lead.

But their early efforts came to nought when Park took advantage of some sloppy defending on the right, particularly winger Imran Sahib, to net two goals in quick succession.

The first came on the quarter-hour mark, when his solo run beat defenders Shariff Abdul Samat and Satria Mad before shooting past goalkeeper Hassan Sunny on the edge of the box.

Things went worse for the Stags and 3,195-strong crowd seven minutes later, when a Zulfadli Zainal Abidin cross on the left was met by Aleksandar Duric, whose header crashed against Hassan’s left-hand post.

With the entire Stags defence caught stunned, the South Korean was quickest to the loose ball as he took advantage of the non-existent marking in the Tampines box to volley home and give the Warriors a 2-0 lead.

Sensing that Imran was overwhelmed on the right, Vorawan threw Nakamura in to replace him just before the half-hour to provide more aggression in attack.

In an immediate response from the Warriors bench, Mustaqim Manzur was withdrawn in place of Hafiz Osman after the former picked up a slight hamstring pull.

Nakamura’s introduction breathed some life into the Tampines attack as his frequent raids on the right caused many problems for the SAFFC defence.

The second-placed team felt the impact of the suspensions though as they lacked the final penetration to breach the visitors and rarely attacked on the left.

Not having Qiu around proved decisive as Alam Shah had to drop back and do the legwork to trouble the centreback pairing of Kenji Arai and Daniel Bennett, which often meant there was no one to take over his usual vanguard role.

With Sutee often drifting inwards and Aliff not fully fitting into the attacking picture, it was clear some reorganizing had to be done if the Stags were to claw their way back into the game.

Two goals down at the break, whatever was said inside the Tampines dressing room seemed to have an effect on the team as they came out a different team in the second half.

Five minutes after the restart, man-marker Seiji Kaneko burst his way through on the left and crossed for Alam Shah, whose header flew over.

On the other end, Hafiz came close to sealing the game for SAFFC as he saw his first attempt hit the side netting and the second deflected by Shariff, with Hassan scrambling to prevent a catastrophic own goal.

These were the only serious efforts from the Warriors in the second half, as they were content to hold on to their lead and see out the match.

Nakamura had other ideas though, when he latched on a Sutee Suksomkit cross on the left to thump the ball at the far post into the underside roof of the net and set up a tense finale in the 67^th minute.

Their hopes for grabbing an equalizer went pear-shaped three minutes later, when Alam Shah slid in to challenge for the ball against Shahril.

Whether contact was made was debatable, but pushed into a split-second decision, Taqi decided there was and promptly sent off the national forward, sparking mass anger from the home bench and stands.

To the 28-year-old’s credit, he quickly picked himself up and made a beeline for the dressing room, rather than get himself and the rest of the team into further trouble by picking an argument.

Although Tampines were a man down, they desperately continued their raids at the other end in search for an equalizer to justify their rallying figure’s sacrifice.

Substitute Amri came closest to sniffing that when he was put through by Sutee in the dying minutes of the game, only for his attempt to hit the side netting.

Frustration was mounting in the Tampines camp, though, as the referee’s every call came under scrutiny, and Shariff’s yellow for an alleged illegal challenge on Shahril in injury time broke the camel’s back for the home team.

Chairman Teo Hock Seng and Vorawan both sprung up from the bench in livid incredulity, and several Tampines players stared Taqi in the eye as they feared for a second consecutive defeat that would have undone their title challenge.

An upset Vorawan had his questions after the match, although he eventually conceded his players had shot themselves in the foot to start with after some below-par defending in the first half.

“When the top two are playing, a more experienced FIFA referee is required,” he said.

“I never believed it was a red card for Alam Shah. He did not touch the goalkeeper, but the goalkeeper delayed the game and wasted time.

“Shariff used his head to challenge for the ball against the goalkeeper. If he had used the hand or knee to do that, the referee would be correct to give the foul and yellow. But he just used his head.

“But the goals we let in were too soft, too easy, especially the second one. The confidence was hard hit after we allowed Park all the time to score,” he then lamented.

“With a full squad, the game would have been a more even, exciting contest. Tonight we missed Benoit at the back and Qiu Li and Ridhuan up front.”

SAFFC coach Richard Bok was meanwhile happy with a hard-fought win that distanced them from the chasing pack at the top.

“Cool and composed heads gave us the win and the players gave a disciplined and professional performance,” he said.

“The team did well defensively and we did not hurry the game. With the numerical advantage we had after the red card, we just kept our cool and the ball as much as we could.”

Despite the victory, he acknowledged the stern test Tampines gave and backed them to push his men all the way in the title race.

“Tampines are still a good team despite the loss, and Sutee gave us many problems tonight,” he added.

“He showed that with the one good cross he made to create their only goal, and I put in Hafiz Osman in early to try and stifle him more on the left.

“While they, Gombak United and DPMM FC are still title challengers, I hope we can keep up the momentum and take it one game at a time to try and consolidate, possibly push away if we can too.”

Gary Koh

Top 10 league in Asia? In terms of sports journalistic integrity, I can only shudder.

Men in Black

A few controversial refereeing decisions off the top of my head.

Tampines Rovers vs Sengkang Punggol (9th Mar 2009)

With the home team one goal up going into the break, referee Zaid Hussein proceeded to send off goalkeeper Joey Sim for a professional foul. Just as 10 men Sengkang Punggol looked to be holding out well and at times threatened to equalise, he brandished another red to substitute keeper Amos Boon, even though Alam Shah was running away from goal and two defenders were tracking back towards the goal line. The two red cards created a goalkeeper crisis for the club for the next two matches, which we never recovered from, losing to both Super Reds and DPMM by the odd goal.

SAFFC vs Tampines Rovers (9th May 2009)

With the score at 3 – 2, SAFFC looked to be on top after a great comeback from the dead. Then came the dramatic equaliser from Noh Alam Shah. Referee Abas Daud gave the goal until he was stopped by his assistant, who signaled for a foul on Daniel Bennett. Goal disallowed. To rub salt into the hotblooded national striker’s wound, he was shown the red card for elbowing his eternal adversary. SAFFC went on to win the match 4 -2.

Tampines Rovers vs SAFFC (13th Jun 2009)

With a spot in the League Cup semifinal up for grabs, the two heavyweights had a go at each other for the second time. Again the assistant referee chose this occasion to play spoiler, first denying a clearly on side Noh Alam Shah winner in stoppage time, and then completely missing Firdaus Kasman’s rebounded penalty landing behind the goal line during the sudden death shootout. Another night of misery for the Stags.

Albirex Niigata (S) vs SAFFC (3rd July 2009)

Totally outplayed by the home team, a Shaiful Esah freekick was harmlessly floated into the box and Matsushita caught it with ease. Shockingly the assistant referee Haja Maidin flagged for a goal, indicating that the keeper had gone behind the goal line with the ball. Television replay proved inconclusive (hey what’s new), but the assistant referee was clearly seen running down the line as the ball was in mid air. Surely he wasn’t in the best possible position (as opposed to standing in line with the goal) to make the call. SAFFC seized initiative with that fluke goal and won the match 3 – 1.

DPMM vs Home United (2nd Aug 2009)

Three red cards to the home team in one minute. Referee K. Kalimuthu must have set himself a new record in S.League history for his feat. Whether his decision would be proven right or wrong is inconsequential, though personally I’m more inclined to believe his officiating must have provoked the DPMM players into complete suicidal mode. As Sivaji said in his post match interview (which for some strange reason, I can no longer find), the referee’s earlier action definitely affected his decision making in the second half. By then the match had already become nothing more than a farce.

Tampines Rovers vs SAFFC (2nd Aug 2009)

Thrown into the burning caldron of Tampines stadium, referee Muhd Taqi came off the worst in this third encounter between the two teams, incurring the wrath of chairman Teo Hock Seng, the home players and their fans with his numerous debatable calls. SAFFC ended the night victorious yet again while Tampines lost the match, Noh Alam Shah, their cool and most likely lots of money from the fines they’ll be hit from the FA.

But more importantly, they might have just lost something far more tangible than any of the above: their faith in the standards of refereeing in the S.League.

S.League a top 10 league in Asia? On the basis of match officiating, I beg to differ.