An ill-prepared Singapore LionsXII team lost to Kelantan in last night’s Malaysian Super League opener in front of 7,209-strong home crowd at Jalan Besar Stadium.
Kelantan played an intelligent absorb and counter-attack game while Singapore did all the running and attacking. Just as the visitors appeared to be growing comfortable with the Lions’ offensive stride, the home team struck in the 34th minute.
A free-kick from the right was met by veteran defender Baihakki Khaizan, and his header bounced past Kelantan goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi. The goal sting Kelantan into action, and in the 44th minute, they equalised.
A high ball was floated into Singapore’s six-yard box, Baihakki missed the header, and the ball fell to the unmarked Norshahrul Idlan who duly shot past goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud. The match was 1-1 at half-time.
In the 80th minute, goalkeeper Izwan made contact with his hand with an incoming Mahmoud Ghadar (one of four Kelantan’s imported player) as they challenged for a stray ball. Referee Nafeez pointed to the spot and Mahmoud sent Izwan the wrong way to claim a 2-1 win for Kelantan.
Singapore LionsXII played badly last night. They attacked but defended poorly. There was little off-the-ball running. Their first touch was poor, passing was inaccurate, and shooting was hesitant. When presented with a chance at goal, instead of shooting at first touch, they opted for two or three touches. They don’t know how to volley.
Tactically, Kelantan played a sound game. Absorbed the LionsXII’s attacked, and launched counter-attack. Singapore played a poor tactical game. After leading 1-0, Singapore players are still attacking. That’s suicidal. In the second half, they ran out of steam, and the off-the-ball running were non-existence.
Even at 1-1, the LionsXII were still attacking and leaving huge gaps at the back. No wonder they lost. We need players who can think. We need a skipper who can direct the players on the field. Football is both a technical as well as a tactical game. We must know when to attack, when to hold back, and when to defend. The LionsXII have poor technical and tactical skills. They will lose many more matches in the coming weeks and months.
When Singapore won two successive Tiger Cup Asean Football tournaments, they did it with foreign players. They did it with Chinese players. They did it with foreign coaches. The success formula was written.
But sadly, FAS abandoned this Success Formula, and went back to the old formula; local school boys, local coaches, no Chinese players, no foreign players, no foreign coaches. And they fail miserably, in the SEA Games, World Cup qualifiers, Asean football tournaments, and surely, the Malaysia Cup.
The FAS President has no clue on how to move Singapore football forward. He should quit immediately, and let someone with the success formula run the FAS. Singapore football needs foreign talent, Chinese players and foreign coaches.
Stop your obsession with short-term success. We need to build a team for the future, the beginning is bound to be hard. The defence needs to be worked on, sure, but sitting on a 1-0 lead for anything more than 5 minutes is a bad idea, and I'm probably being generous here.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with the return to the Malaysia Cup but if there's one thing the FAS is doing right it's keeping the team fully local because that's the best way to encourage long-term success in my opinion. Why would a footballer want to play professionally if his place is going to be taken by someone from another country?
Singapore only won something in International football when there is foreign players (Singapore citizen) playing for the team, like the Tiger Cup. Malaysia introduced foreign players into the Malaysia Cup so that their local players must improve to compete with the foreign players for places. That's how Malaysian football improved, and they won 2 successive SEA Games football. Singapore football is going backwards because the local players do not need to compete with foreign players for places. Any schoolboy can play for Singapore, and lose. Nobody supports a losing team. How are they going to fill the new National Stadium with 50,000 fans? Send all the students there?
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