Singapore v Syria - World Cup Qualifier
We have a magnificent Sports Hub. Singapore soccer needs a revival. If Liverpool have the Kops, Newcastle have the Toon Army, then I was a part of the famous Kallang Roar from the 70s. Today, it saddens me that when Liverpool or Manchester United play here, there were more fans wearing the foreign teams colours than ours. I read that a S-League Singaporean player wore Japan's colours when they played Singapore in a World Cup qualifier and got slammed in social media even as he explained that his son wanted him to wear that.
The stadium itself with its dome and retracting roof is world-class and a grand venue by itself. If Singapore can build and run such fabulous airport, seaport, houses and be number one in this and that even competing with the world's best, why are we not producing more great sportsmen and sportswomen and in particular, a good soccer team. Notice I did not mention a great soccer team.
I looked into the river bank to reflect.
I gazed upon the sky and the stars in search of answers. It was so beautiful that I got distracted and forgot to say a prayer.
I love the old lady of the Kallang stadium - simple yet magnificent. Architecturally, of course this new one is hard to beat or ignore as it is also very comfortable with a hosts of amenities for shopping and food and even a supermarket.
Well, for a stadium it is okay but I wonder why they do the same in a hospital. People should generally shun a hospital unless you need to really visit someone. You do not visit someone in hospital to show you care as if you have to mark your attendance. The person who is unwell actually needs rest. By too many people going there you will actually bring all kinds of germs, viruses, bacteria, warts and all. Don't go to a hospital to shop or eat there, don't encourage that. Sometimes, when doing things good we may cause more harm.
It is no wonder they have won awards. An incredible facility indeed!
When will we get accolades on the pitch and win trophies?
I got seated here on purpose.
Based on my years of experiment, the best seat in the house and the best spot to watch a soccer game is not to sit in the centre of the stadium. You won't get to see much except some midfield tussles as the action is always around the goal mouth.
I like the look of the Singapore flag in full display on the ceiling. This should make every national player proud when they put on a Singapore jersey.
Question is how do you revive the Kallang Roar? It is chicken and egg situation but if performances are like chicken then there is no egg. No, you get eggs on the faces.
Some say due to our small population it is hard to find enough good players. Really? We have a population of 5.54 million as of June 2015 of which there were 3.38 million citizens with 0.53 million PRs and others comprising 1.63 million. How about Uruguay who has 3.5 million and have featured in many World Cups and even won it. Think Luis Suarez, Edison Cavani, Diego Forlan. Qatar has 2.1 million, Bahrain 1.78 million and Cyprus 850,000, Ireland 4.6 million and Northern Ireland 1.8 million. Scandinavian countries have small population too.
I remember that in school we always have intense rivalry. It was less passionate and less organised when it came to national level except during the days of the Kallang Roar where even though it was less organised, it was no less rowdy. We really roared! Was it because we had a very good and exciting team? Could it be that people are less interested in local soccer since many in SG are too busy and youngsters have much more distraction?
But this small section at one end of the stadium caught my eye and I admire that. They are our glimmer of hope for the sun to rise. They were beating drums, singing or would suddenly break into jumping and flag-waving. That was what we did in school and it created such a great atmosphere. Thank you to the Singapore Lions die-hard fans!
Here we see a small section of passionate support and a few interesting characters like this one with a self made hat consisting of a soccer ball like wearing a crown.
The game kicked off and what I saw was the Syrians outrunning and out passing us for every ball. They were the first to it. Singapore as usual played a very predictable game. Our players do not run into position, their moves were predictable, we hardly could string three passes together before losing the ball after trying so hard to win it back. We do not have the ability to hold the ball and were frequently left chasing shadows.
I saw more of the same things when we got whipped 4-1 by Pahang on TV in the Malaysia Cup. The opponents could individually run rings or got past several of our players far too easily suggesting that our players are unfit or lack confidence in what they do. I could understand Fandi's frustration as he was a very good player. How do you get the message across to the players, to build a team with great ''semangat", literally ''spirit''. With Fandi, V. Sundramoorthy and some other good coaches around why not use them well and give them a chance to lead? Stange has not changed anything. Maybe it is not his fault. Maybe we are unteachable. Maybe we did not appoint the right man. Maybe we have to start all over again like how they did it in Germany.
Syria reminds me of some Latin teams. They play with lots of guile including play-acting. Grimacing in pain and rolling all over the places at the slightest touch or even when nobody touched them.
A friend of mine was with me. He was excitable. Every time when Singapore got close or whenever Syria came close he would hit me on the thigh with his hand while shouting. I realised only later that by half time I was injured - watching and not playing soccer. Haha.
It was looking gloomy for Singapore trailing 0-1, not making much progress as Syria threatened. Just shortly after I told my friend that suddenly Singapore could score against the run of play and lo and behold, we got a penalty and Safuwan scored!
The stadium erupted into euphoria as our players celebrated. However, it was short lived as soon after Syria scored another.
Our S-League is lacking interest. We are now dumped out again out of the Malaysia Cup and League. For those occasional brilliant displays, our team have been mostly mediocre at best. What now Singapore? What now FAS?
As the game ended, finding my way to the car park, I passed by this venue and saw so many people doing their rock climb. It reminded me of our state of soccer. We have to do more.
What I find that we lack is a sporting culture. Singapore lacks a sporting culture. Even the most talented folks usually give up their sports and hobbies to pursue other careers. Those who have been working continue working without any pursuits of sports or hobbies and it is getting younger like diseases.
We have the facilities and the experience. Time for a revival but we need to firstly put the right people in place. Passionate people with a fanatical love for the game. Please treat it as urgent!
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