South China deal with Saša Kajkut off

S-league champions Tampines Rovers have received a boast for their Asian Champions League clash.

Hong Kong champions South China deal with Bosnian forward Saša Kajkut is reportedly off.

The Hong Kong media reported the Hong Kong club management staffs had been impressed by the skill and ability of the forward a few days ago and was signing him. 

Yet South China coach Cheung Po Chun was quoted by the media yesterday the 29-year-old has flew back to his homeland 'temporary' and the club is still seeking new forwards.

Hong Kong League allow Hong Kong clubs to sign up to 7 foreigners and at this point according to South China wiki, they have only 5 excluding Saša Kajkut.

S-league champions Tampines is playing South China on Feb 2 next year at Jalan Besar.

Viewpoint Menu

2013

• Thanks you, S.Thavaneson
• Answer question on national interest first
• Time for certain games to be set in stone in S-league fixture list
• $200 million should have been higher now as long as it is the right one
• S-league CEO - A CEO or a manager
• Accept the turth, referees
• Choose a path first before anything else

2012

• A president who rise and fall with it
• Split not that bad
• S Murali
• Harimau Muda should have FAS or that man on their shirt 
• They will be remembered in time 

2011

• The lies that man told to get his Malaysia team 
• Who does S-league CEO represent
• Nice words from Rohit Brinjnath but (Edited to add in the six-part series)
• Not the time for all S-league games to be on weekend
• The headline numbers do not matter if it is gobbled up by commercial rates
• Forcing clubs will do nobody any good
• Lucky for us the Beep Test stay

2010

• Zainudin ready to abandon S-league II
• S-league clubs cry for more money, not less
• Zainudin ready to abandon S-league
• Having longer term for FAS President make more sense
• Anti-football, under physical play guise, is a worry
• Starhub participation appreciated but hope it long term

2009

• S-league Teams spot a sore thumb
• Gombak-Erke deal show us where S-league future lie

South China will be fighting for Hong Kong future as Kelong hit their league

South China may now be fighting for Hong Kong football future after the Hong Kong League was hit by two cases of kelong talks over the weekend with fans asking for investigations (Link is in Chinese)

First case saw Happy Valley goalkeeper Leung Man-Lai upset with his defence in their 1-5 thrashing and said if they didn't want to play then he would stop playing too. He was then "injured" and replaced after conceding the first goal.

It had forced Happy Valley to come out and insists the team's finances are sound but they will still replace their foreign players and bring in more local players for the second half of the season.

Second case is worse as Tuen Mun defender Li Ming (the player with nos 29), in injury time, gifted 3 points to Yokohama FC (HK) for their first win of the season. He basically rose up unchallenged and headed the ball into his own net. Fans are questioning whether it was a genuine own goal or not and a thread has opened to ask if the club should return the HK$1 million government subsidy. (Also in Chinese)

After the match, a foreign player reportedly threw away his shirt and some local players have come out to say they are leaving the club and posted $1,000 dollar bills on social media.

The last time Tampines met a team with Kelong hanging over them (the Vietnam team - Saigon), their rivals then go on to play their skin off to prove their 'innocence' and what more now for South China.

The Hong Kong champions surely have to fight for their lives as they seek to 'save' Hong Kong football which is revamping their league next year and they will want to go into it with a bang, not with doubts hanging over them.

Tampines's rival beef up for ACL playoff

Tampines Rovers rival in the first round of the AFC Champions League, South China, has reportedly beef up their squad.

They have signed Sasa Kajkut, a former Bosnian international, and got on loan Hong Kong defender Lee Chi-Ho from Beijing Gouan.

At the same time, they have approached Chan Siu-ki, who is Hong Kong national team all-time goalscorer with 34 goals, and he is reportedly interested to join the club.

They have also got their sight on Andy Nagelain, Hong Kong national team utility man and claimed talk with his club Guizhou Zhicheng to get him on loan is progressing well.

Finally although the chances of these moves are low in my view, Hong Kong media paper Apple Daily claimed South China club chairman Steven Lo have gone to England to discuss loan moves for Andrew Johnson and Javier Chevantón from QPR, which is managed by Harry Redknapp, who is a reportedly good friend of the chairman since linking up during the South China-Spurs partnership.

Home get runner-up spot

Home United have captured second place in the league after they defeated Albirex Niigata (S) 3-1.

With a two-point advantage over the White Swans, they never had to win the match but they still went for the kill from the first whistle at Bishan and Kwon Dakyung and Hafiz Rahim giving them a first half lead with Kazuki Sakamoto halving it.

Once Sirina Camara scored in the second period, it was never in doubt for the Protectors as they secured the runner-up spot.

In other matches, Tampines ROvers finished off the season with a bang just as they started it as they destroyed Woodlands Wellington 6-3 while Balestier Khalsa edged out Tanjong Pagar 1-0.

Tampines goals came from Khariul Amri who got a hat-trick with Aleksandar Duric bagging a brace while the last goal was an own goal.

Korean forward Moon Soon Ho also bagged a hat-trick for Woodlands Wellington but it was not enough with Tampines firepower far superior.

Hamqaamal Shah got the goal in the Jaguars-Tigers match.

Home United
Shahril Jantan (GK), Juma'at Jantan, Noh Rahman (C) (Firdaus Idros 61'), Ismail Yunos, Kwon Dakyung, Sirina Camara, Hafiz Rahim, Jordan Webb, Masrezwan Masturi (Sevki Sha'ban 66'), Nor Azli Yusoff (Sofiyan Abdul Hamid 90'), Song Uiyoung

------------------

Woodlands Wellington
Yazid Yasin (GK), Cho Sunghwan, Hidhir Hasbiallah, Atsushi Shimono (C), Taufiq Rahmat, Farizal Basri (Armanizam Dolah 66'), Ridhwan Osman (Oswind Suriya 55'), Ang Zhiwei, Chang Jo Yoon (Farouq Farkhan 71'), Moon Soonho, Fadhil Noh

Tampines Rovers
Andre Martins (GK)(Ridhuan Barudin 46'), Jufri Taha, Kunihiro Yamashita, Anaz Hadee, Shaiful Esah, Ismadi Mukhtar (Ahmed Fahmie 66'), Fahrudin Mustafic (C), Shahdan Sulaiman, Jamil Ali (Imran Sahib 61'), Aleksandar Duric, Khairul Amri

------------------

Tanjong Pagar United
Aurelien Herisson (GK), Anthony Aymard, Hanafi Salleh, Azhar Ahmad, Walid Lounis (C), Zahid Ahmad, Zulfadhli Emran, Asraf Rashid (Rizawan Abdullah 78'), Ahmad Latiff, Hafiz Nor (Ismael Benahmed 84'), Monsef Zerka

Balestier Khalsa
Zakariah Nerani (GK), Hamqaamal Shah (Ruhaizad Ismail 80'), Paul Cunningham (C), Shafuan Sutohmoh (Patrick Paran 85'), Ridwan Jamil, Kim Minho, Park Kang Jin, Poh Yi Feng, Syed Thaha, Obadin Aikhena, Qiu Li

Warriors win second-tier playoff league

Warriors FC have won the second-tier playoff league even as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Hariman Muda.

With them level on points with Brunei DPMM but with a superior goal difference, they only had to match the Brunei club result and that is what happen as Brunei DPMM also failed to register a win.

DPMM could only draw 2-2 with Geylang International as the Bedok club came back from two goals down.

Goals from Brazilian Rodrigo Antonio Tosi and Brunei ace forward Shahrazen Said appeared enough for the Brunei to win the game and the second-tier playoff league but Eagles skipper Jozef Kaplan sparked a comeback with a goal on the hour mark.

The Eagles pile on the pressure after that and with a little bit of fortune, in injury time, they were rewarded as Yasir Hanapi's stoppage time shot ping-ponged around the penalty box before it was snuck over the line after cannoning off the underside of the bar and was credited to Stefan Milojevic.

That result meant the Warriors never needed to win and it was fortunate as they had given away a winning position after Mislav Karoglan gave them the lead before Akmal Ishak snatch a share of the point with a late goal.

It was also a happy day for Courts Young Lions as they avoided a fine of $50k after they beat Hougang 2-0 to gather enough points on the table even as they finished with the Wooden Spoon this season.

Iqbal Hamid Hussain and Nur Naiim Ishak got the goals for the Cubs.

Warriors FC
Hassan Sunny (GK), Kazuyuki Toda, Abdil Qaiyyim (Matthew Abraham 68'), Marin Vidosevic, Jeremy Chiang (Syaiful Iskandar 78'), Daniel Bennett (C), Shukor Zailan (Shi Jiayi 68'), Mislav Karoglan, Sufian Anuar, Hafsyar Farkhan, Nicholas Cher

--------------------

Courts Young Lions
Syazwan Buhari (GK), Al-Qaasimy Rahman, Afiq Yunos, Nicholas Cher, Sheikh Abdul Hadi, Raihan Rahman (C), Stanely Ng (Fareez Farhan 79'), Nur Naiim Ishak (Muhaymin Salim 89'), Iqbal Hamid Hussain, Sahil Suhaimi, Samuel Benjamin (Nur Ridho 66')

Hougang United
Fadhil Salim (GK), Syaqir Sulaiman (Fairoz Hasan 35'), Lau Meng Meng (C), Thomas Beattie, Azhar Sairudin, Jerome Baker (Liam Shotton 78'), Fazli Jaffar (Hasree Zais 46'), Faizal Amir, Fazly Hasan, Nurhilmi Jasni, Mamadou Diallo

--------------------

Geylang International
Takuma Ito (GK), Delwinder Singh, Duncan Elias (Shah Hirul 77'), Norihiro Kawakami, Yasir Hanapi, Stefan Milojevic, Noor Ali, Jozef Kaplan (C), Nurhazwan Norasikin, Taufiq Ghani (Asshidiq Wahid 69'), Andrew Tan

SEA Games XXVII (Under-23)

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Malaysia	4	3	1	0	9	3	+6	10
Singapore	4	2	2	0	5	2	+3	8
Vietnam	4	2	0	2	13	3	+10	6
Laos	4	1	1	2	5	12	−7	4
Brunei	4	0	0	4	2	14	−12	0

• Singapore U23 1-1 Laos U23
• Singapore U23 1-0 Vietnam U23
• Singapore U23 2-0 Brunei U23
• Singapore U23 1-1 Malaysia U23

Semi-final

• Thailand U23 1-0 Singapore U23
• Indonesia U23 (4) 1-1 (3) Malaysia U23

Bronze medal

• Singapore U23 2-1 Malaysia U23

Gold/Sliver Medal

• Thailand U23 1-0 Indonesia U23

ASEAN Under-19 championship

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Timor-Leste	4	3	1	0	9	4	+5	10
Laos	4	3	0	1	10	5	+5	9
Cambodia	4	2	0	2	9	9	0	6
Singapore	4	1	1	2	6	8	−2	4
Philippines	4	0	0	4	4	12	−8	0

Results

• Singapore U19 1-1 Timor-Leste U19
• Singapore U19 3-1 Philippines U19
• Laos U19 3-0 Singapore U19
• Cambodia U19 3-2 Singapore U19

ASEAN Under-16 championship

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Malaysia	4	2	2	0	11	2	+9	8
Indonesia	4	2	2	0	7	1	+6	8
Singapore	4	1	2	1	6	6	0	5
Laos	4	1	0	3	5	11	−6	3
Philippines	4	1	0	3	1	10	−9	3

Results

• Singapore U16 1-1 Malaysia U16
• Singapore U16 2-0 Philippines U16
• Singapore U16 1-1 Indonesia U16
• Laos U16 4-2 Singapore U16

Asian Under-19 Qualifiers

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
North Korea	3	3	0	0	12	0	+12	9
Thailand	3	2	0	1	10	2	+8	6
Singapore	3	1	0	2	3	8	−5	3
Brunei	3	0	0	3	1	16	−15	0

Results

• Thailand U19 3–0 Singapore U19
• North Korea U19 4-0 Singapore U19
• Singapore U19 3–1 Brunei U19

Asian Under-16 Qualifiers

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Australia	4	4	0	0	26	2	+24	12
Hong Kong	4	3	0	1	12	4	+8	9
Singapore	4	2	0	2	14	8	+6	6
Chinese Taipei	4	1	0	3	7	13	−6	3
Macau	4	0	0	4	1	33	−32	0

Results

• Hong Kong U16 4–1 Singapore U16
• Singapore U16 3–1 Chinese Taipei U16
• Singapore U16 9–0 Macau U16
• Australia U16 3–1 Singapore U16

Down to last game for second

It will be down to last game as Albirex Niigata (S) down newly-crown Tampines Rovers 3-1 at Jalan Besar.

With Home United having a five-point lead over the Japanese side, they had to win or else it was all over and that is what the White Swans did as Itsuki Yamada,Kazuki Sakamoto and Bruno Castanheira gave them an unassailable 3-0 lead before Jamil Ali got one goal back for Tampines.

So it is in the hands of Albirex as they meet Home at Bishan 3 days later to decide who finished second.

At the same time, Warriors FC failed to close off top place in the second-tier playoff as they fall 1-2 to Courts Young Lions and it gave the Jalan Besar team the chance to avoid a fine for not winning enough points.

The Cubs now have 15 points in the league and they need 17 points and they can get in theirlast game against Hougang United with a win.

Muhammad Salim and Shamil Sharif got the goals for the Cubs with Dharham Aziz scoring for the Warriors.

It opened the way for Brunei DPMM as they drew 2-2 with Harimau Muda and it allowed the Brunei side to draw level with Warriors FC at the top in the second-tier playoff but with an inferior goal difference of -5.

So they need to defeat Geylang International in their last game and even then it may not be enough.

Asyraf Talib and Akmal Ishak scored for the Malaysians while Rosmin Kamis and Rodrigo Antonio Tosi got the goals for the Brunei side.

Courts Young Lions
Syazwan Buhari (GK), Nicholas Cher, Al-Qaasimy Rahman, Sheikh Abdul Hadi, Raihan Rahman (C), Anumanthan Kumar (Afiq Yunos 27'), Shamil Sharif, Fareez Farhan (Nur Ridho 46'), Iqbal Hamid Hussain, Muhaymin Salim (Sahil Suhaimi 52'), Sherif El-Masri

Warriors FC
Hassan Sunny (GK), Zulfadli Zainal Abidin, Kazuyuki Toda, Abdil Qaiyyim (Jeremy Chiang 70'), Marin Vidosevic, Daniel Bennett (C), Shukor Zailan, Dharham Aziz (Shi Jiayi 74'), Mislav Karoglan, Sufian Anuar, Prakash Manikam (Sadiq Sanusi 64')

-------------------

Tampines Rovers
Andre Martins (GK), Jufri Taha, Kunihiro Yamashita, Diogo Caramelo (Aleksandar Duric 46'), Vitor Ladeiras (Jamil Ali 60'), Anaz Hadee, Shaiful Esah, Ismadi Mukhtar (Imran Sahib 69'), Shahdan Sulaiman (C), Firdaus Kasman, Khairul Amri

Home firmed up second position

Home United will go into the last game of the season no matter the result of Tampines-Albriex tomorrow after they defeated Tanjong Pagar 1-0 at Queenstown.

Juma'at Bin Jantan got the winner in the first half.

At the same time, Balestier Khalsa looked to have finished in fourth position after thrashing main rivals Woodlands Wellington 3-0.

The Toa Poyah club now have a 3-point advantage over fifth-placed Woodlands and have a goal difference of +9 compared on only +1 for the Northern club.

Only a thrashing by Tanjong Pagar along with a thrashing of their own by Woodlands will givethem fourth place and it near to impossible.

It is the highest league position by the Toa Poyah club since their merger in 03 and it is thanks to skipper Paul Cunningham and a brace from Qiu Li.

Tanjong Pagar United
Aurelien Herisson (GK), Anthony Aymard, Hafiz Osman (C), Hanafi Salleh, Walid Lounis, Zulfadhli Emran, Asraf Rashid, Ahmad Latiff, Kamel Ramdani, K Vikraman, Monsef Zerka

Home United
Shahril Jantan (GK), Juma'at Jantan, Noh Rahman (C)(Sevki Sha'ban 54'), Ismail Yunos, Kwon Dakyung, Sirina Camara, Hafiz Rahim, Jordan Webb (Lee Kwan Woo 76'), Masrezwan Masturi (Firdaus Idros 80'), Nor Azli Yusoff, Song Uiyoung

--------------------

Balestier Khalsa
Zaiful Nizam (GK), Hamqaamal Shah (Ahmad Syahir 75'), Paul Cunningham (C), Shafuan Sutohmoh (Patrick Paran 81'), Ridwan Jamil, Ruhaizad Ismail (Rasmus Fristedt 86'), Qiu Li, Kim Minho, Park Kang Jin, Syed Thaha, Obadin Aikhena

Woodlands Wellington
Nazri Sabri (GK), Cho Sunghwan, Shahril Alias (C), Shariff Samat, Rosman Sulaiman, Hidhir Hasbiallah (Farouq Farkhan 62'), Theerawekin Seehawong (Oswind Suriya 36'), Atsushi Shimono, Ang Zhiwei (Fadhil Noh 76'), Chang Jo Yoon, Moon Soonho

Home back to second

Home United got back their second place in the league with a 1-0 win against Balestier Khalsa.

Former Korean international Lee Kwan Woo came off the bench at half-time to ge the winner in the second period and Home United held on to get all 3 points on offer.

In other games, Hougang United beat Hairmau Muda 4-1, Geylang International beat Courts Young Lions 1-0 and Tampines Rovers drew 1-1 with Tanjong Pagar United.

Hougang goals came from a brace from both Igor Cerina and Basit Hamid while Farizzuan Azhar got Harimau Muda goal.

Jalal got the winner in the Eagles-Cubs game.

Khariul Amri got Tampines goal while Zerka Monsef scored for Tanjong Pagar.

5 days later, Hougang United beat Geylang International 4-1 with goals from Jerome Baker, Fazli Jaffar, Azhar Sairudin and Mamadou Diallo.

Norihiro Kawakami got the Eagles only consolation goal.

Meanwhile, Courts Young Lions was awarded a 3-0 win over Harimau Muda for a match abandoned, a day earlier, due to crowd trouble at Pasir Gudang, Malaysia.

Sherif El-Masri had got a goal in the game before it was abandoned which will be credited to the player.

Hougang United
Fadhil Salim (GK), Syaqir Sulaiman, Lau Meng Meng (C), Thomas Beattie, Azhar Sairudin, Jerome Baker (Liam Shotton 82'), Fazli Jaffar (Fazly Hasan 87'), Faizal Amir, Nurhilmi Jasni, Mamadou Diallo (Basit Hamid 62'), Igor Cerina

---------------------

Geylang International
Takuma Ito (GK), Delwinder Singh (Andrew Tan 75'), Norihiro Kawakami, Wyldan Wisam, Jalal, Yasir Hanapi, Stefan Milojevic (Asshidiq Wahid 85'), Noor Ali, Jozef Kaplan (C), Basil Teo (Taufiq Ghani 72), Wahyudi Abd Wahid

Courts Young Lions
Syazwan Buhari (GK), Al-Qaasimy Rahman, Afiq Yunos, Ali Hudzaifi, Sheikh Abdul Hadi, Raihan Rahman (C), Shamil Sharif, Stanely Ng (Nur Ridho 51'), Iqbal Hamid Hussain (Muhaymin Salim 43'), Sahil Suhaimi, Sherif El-Masri (Fareez Farhan 65')

---------------------

Balestier Khalsa
Zaiful Nizam (GK), Hamqaamal Shah (Zulkiffli Hassim 15'), Paul Cunningham (C), Tengku Mushadad, Ridwan Jamil, Park Kang Jin, Poh Yi Feng, Syed Thaha, Obadin Aikhena, Qiu Li, Kim Minho (Suria Prakash 84')

Home United
Shahril Jantan (GK), Juma'at Jantan (Nor Azli Yusoff 85'), Noh Rahman (C) (Lee Kwan Woo 46'), Ismail Yunos, Kwon Dakyung, Sirina Camara, Hafiz Rahim, Jordan Webb, Firdaus Idros, Masrezwan Masturi (Sevki Sha'ban 57'), Song Uiyoung

---------------------

Tampines Rovers
Andre Martins (GK), Jufri Taha, Kunihiro Yamashita, Ismadi Mukhtar (Ahmed Fahmie 77'), Fahrudin Mustafic (C), Vitor Ladeiras, Anaz Hadee, Ruzaini Zainal, Firdaus Kasman, Jamil Ali (Diogo Caramelo 70'), Khairul Amri

Tanjong Pagar United
Aurelien Herisson (GK), Anthony Aymard, Hafiz Osman (C), Hanafi Salleh, Walid Lounis, Zahid Ahmad, Zulfadhli Emran (K Vikraman 77'), Asraf Rashid, Ahmad Latiff, Kamel Ramdani, Monsef Zerka

---------------------

Hougang United
Fadhil Salim (GK), Syaqir Sulaiman, Lau Meng Meng (C), Thomas Beattie, Azhar Sairudin (Fazly Hasan 69'), Jerome Baker (Fairoz Hasan 81'), Fazli Jaffar, Faizal Amir, Nurhilmi Jasni, Mamadou Diallo (Basit Hamid 75'), Igor Cerina

Geylang International
Takuma Ito (GK), Delwinder Singh, Norihiro Kawakami, Wyldan Wisam (Nurhazwan Norasikin 71'), Jalal, Yasir Hanapi, Stefan Milojevic (Ahmad Khidhir 83'), Noor Ali, Jozef Kaplan (C), Taufiq Ghani (Fuad Ramli 58'), Wahyudi Abd Wahid

Thanks you, S.Thavaneson

Saw Qiu Li, one of Balestier Khalsa best player, released by the Toa Poyah club as he could not accept a pay cut.

This looked like a straightforward case of an employer treating his player badly after he had given it all yet I do not see it that way.

Qiu Li is just the unfortunate victim of Balestier vice-chairman S.Thavaneson commitment to Singapore football.

Confused, are you.

If one had followed the news, one could know by now FAS have revamped the Centre of Excellence (COEs) system and Balestier is the only one outside the Uniform teams - Home United and Warriors FC - that have opted to join the scheme.

Considering how much the new system is asking of clubs, it will be no small sum for Balestier to fork out even if their COEs are not as impressive as Home United plans.

Yet the Toa Poyah club still accepted the option to join when better-placed and better-funded Tampines Rovers turned it down.

If that is not commitment, what is.

No doubts the rewards, as the rumors goes, such as better funding and allowing the clubs to keep their developed players sound nice but we do know we are talking about Football Association of Singapore (FAS) and their always-lying President Zainudin Noordin.

I mean Tampines Rovers chairman Teo Hong Seng commitment cannot be questioned but even he must be disheartened by FAS backstabbing over the years.

Just this year, FAS saw it wise to ask Tampines for their youngster Shannon Stephen when they did not really need him.

Afterall, Aide Iskandar, the SEA Games Under-23 coach, was quoted by TODAY telling us, after the 1-2 defeat in a friendly against Laos Under-23, the second-stringers of FAS owned LionsXII and Courts Young Lions had hardly played all year round so it was no surprise they was not able to perform.

So is FAS teams understaffed or overstaffed!

The answer is obvious with a significant number of players in both teams just there to make up the numbers and FAS will rather call up players to sit on the bench than allowed a promising one to stay with clubs thus losing out if he make the grade.

This is the impression one must get as 2 years ago, Tampines was also treated in a similar way over Shahdan Sulaiman when he must joined Courts Young Lions because of national interest.

In that case, why spend any money on COEs for Balestier could spend it on their seniors, allowing the club to retain Qiu Li, like what FAS does with LionsXII considering how they see it fit they only spend a combined $800k on COEs while LionsXII is at several times more at over $2miilion to $3million.

The glory is instant, unlike now where the results are uncertain and even if there are rewards, what are the chances FAS will not change the rules to deny Balestier after they spend much time, efforts and money on it.

Yet, you, Mr S.Thavaneson, still accepts such a raw deal because your commitment to developing Singapore football override all reasons.

For you are not stupid or naive having been involved in Singapore football since the semi-pro Singapore Premier League (SPL) days and having been backstabbed many times as well.

Still each time, you still commit the time, effort and money to Singapore football whenever they needed it.

You deserved to be honoured more than the current inept FAS president for his actions and commitment paled in comparison but I know only FAS presidents are ever honoured.

That is why, the very least I can do is thanks you on this blog for you deserved it and much more.

Answer question on national interest first

Once again, S-league is whipping boy for not helping Singapore football but let asked ourselves how we got into that situation

As I noted before, there is just not enough money invested by Football Association of Singapore (FAS) in youth development for clubs have to take out money from their own pocket every year and how do one expect this to go on.

Nobody can develop 40 players (Now 150) on a $100k budget; not even Barcelona.

And I have talked about it - Forcing clubs will do nobody any good and How about aiming your gun at your boss, the culprit, for once, Raddy

Then the other problem is FAS become your competitor for whatever good players one have.

Let look at history as a lesson for that for I noted before, remember 2003 as an example, Geylang was building a promising team, that had included Baihakki, which had finished second in both league and cup.

What was their reward?

They lost 7 U23 players to FAS immediately in their next season and they could not even appeal as it was all in the name of national interest.

Thus what awaited as a 'reward' was a bottom 3 finish in 2004 as they could not rebuild a similar side in such a short time.

For FAS, their Young Lions team got third in 2004 on the corpse of Woodlands Wellington (by getting their Agu Casmir & Itimi Dickson) and Geylang.

Since then which other clubs have try to build such promising teams again and the answer is in front for the reason, it is a lose-lose deal for clubs.

Good players go to FAS no matter what. Average to Bad players they get to keep.

Indeed, Gombak and Balestier have try to build sides but they only dare to play young players who are around their 20s like Poh Yi Feng (No disrepute, Poh, you are a good average player but just not national team) who are not in the radar of FAS so they will not be touched.

When one always run the risk of losing players, nobody will do a good job and that is why clubs run away once they do not have to develop COEs anymore as they are the ones spending money while FAS get all credits and real rewards.

Will you, Stange Benard, develop players just because of name of national interest on an empty stomach. (If you can do that, you do not need to collect your wages)

Answer that and then youth development can take off.

For I have noted in the second link, Football Federation like France do not take away good players from clubs who developed them and instead give more such players to those clubs with good reputation of youth development to encourage them to do better job.

It is so unlike Singapore where the 'reward' is FAS will get them for their teams.

This question cannot be avoided if one want clubs to develop players because nobody in the world will develop for FAS just because of 'national interest'.

Tampines are champions despite defeat

Tampines Rovers have won the 2013 S-league championship despite going down to Home United 2-0 at Bishan.

This was a result of Albirex Niigata (S) losing their home match against Balestier Khalsa 1-2 and now mathematically it is impossible to catch Tampines Rovers, no matter what.

Lee Kwan Woo's, who came off the bench, double against the Champions meant Home United are in second spot ahead of Albirex Niigata (S).

As for the White Swans, their bad run where they have just won 1 game in 2 months come to pay as they dropped to third with yet another defeat with Qiu Li and Park Kang Jin goals giving the Tigers all 3 points.

Kento Nagasaki got Albirex goal.

3 days later, Albirex Niigata (S) got back their second spot, but Home have a game in hand, after they defeated Woodlands Wellington 3-1.

It was all over in the first period with goals from Bruno Castanheira,Sato Masatake and Kazuya Fukuzaki.

Ang Zhiwei scored in the second period for the Rams.

In another match, Warriors FC opened up a 4 points gap at the top of second tier playoff league with a 3-2 win against DPMM Brunei.

The Bruneian side had opened the second playoff with 2 wins and looked to have the monument to go for the kill against Warriors who had only collected 1 point so far but the script was not followed as goals from Mislav Karoglan, Hafsyar Farkhan and Shukor Zailan saw the Choa Chu Kang side retained the points at home.

Goals from Shah Razen Said and an own goal did give DPMM some hopes but it was not enough.

With only 2 games left now, it appeared Warriors FC may have done enough to win the second tier playoff league.

Balestier Khalsa
Zaiful Nizam (GK), Paul Cunningham (C), Tengku Mushadad, Ruhaizad Ismail (Ridwan Jamil 56'), Kim Minho, Park Kang Jin (Vitor Borges 79'), Poh Yi Feng, Syed Thaha, Obadin Aikhena, Qiu Li (Shafuan Sutohmoh 79'), Zulkiffli Hassim

--------------------

Home United
Shahril Jantan (GK), Sofiyan Abdul Hamid (Sevki Sha'ban 55'), Juma'at Jantan, Noh Rahman (C) (Lee Kwan Woo 46'), Ismail Yunos, Kwon Dakyung, Hafiz Rahim, Jordan Webb, Firdaus Idros, Masrezwan Masturi (Nor Azli Yusoff 62'), Song Uiyoung

Tampines Rovers
Andre Martins (GK), Jufri Taha, Kunihiro Yamashita, Shaiful Esah, Seiji Kaneko, Fahrudin Mustafic (C) (Firdaus Kasman 62'), Shahdan Sulaiman, Imran Sahib (Diogo Caramelo 78'), Jamil Ali, Aleksandar Duric, Khairul Amri (Vitor Ladeiras 65')

--------------------

Woodlands Wellington
Yazid Yasin (GK), Cho Sunghwan, Shahril Alias (C), Shariff Samat, Rosman Sulaiman, Farouq Farkhan (Fadhil Noh 52'), Theerawekin Seehawong (Goh Swee Swee 83'), Atsushi Shimono, Ang Zhiwei (Taufiq Rahmat 75'), Chang Jo Yoon, Moon Soonho

--------------------

Warriors FC
Hassan Sunny (GK), Zulfadli Zainal Abidin (Syaiful Iskandar 75'), Kazuyuki Toda, Abdil Qaiyyim, Jeremy Chiang, Matthew Abraham (Dharham Aziz 59'), Shukor Zailan, Mislav Karoglan, Marin Vidosevic (C), Erwan Gunawan (Nicholas Cher 81'), Hafsyar Farkhan

DPMM continued strong run in 2nd tier playoff round

DPMM Brunei have started strongly in the 2nd tier playoff round as they become the only side to gather full points in all their matches.

After beating Courts Young Lions 3-2, they now beat Hougang United 1-0 to gain on Warriors who are leading the 2nd tier league.

Rodrigo Antonio Tosi got the winner.

This is especially important as Warriors FC continued to falter in the 2nd tier playoff as they went down 0-3 to Geylang International at Bedok Stadium.

Stefan Milojevic and skipper Jozef Kaplan (2) got the goals.

This meant the Warrriors have only gained 1 point in their 2 matches and next face DPMM Brunei.

In another match, Woodlands Wellington and Tanjong Pagar United who are in the first tier league drew 2-2 in their matchup.

Moon Soonho and Chang Jo Yoon scored for the Rams while Hafiz Nor reply for the Jaguars with a brace.

Woodlands Wellington
Yazid Yasin (GK), Cho Sunghwan, Shahril Alias (C), Rosman Sulaiman, Farouq Farkhan (Theerawekin Seehawong 80'), Atsushi Shimono, Taufiq Rahmat (Oswind Suriya 67'), Ang Zhiwei, Chang Jo Yoon, Moon Soonho, Fadhil Noh (Goh Swee Swee 76')

Tanjong Pagar United
Aurelien Herisson (GK), Anthony Aymard, Hafiz Osman (C), Hanafi Salleh, Walid Lounis, Zahid Ahmad, Asraf Rashid (Azhar Ahmad 87'), Ahmad Latiff, Kamel Ramdani, Ismael Benahmed (Hafiz Nor 32'), Monsef Zerka

-------------------

Geylang International
Takuma Ito (GK), Duncan Elias (Andrew Tan 83'), Norihiro Kawakami, Wyldan Wisam (Nurhazwan Norasikin 77'), Jalal, Yasir Hanapi, Stefan Milojevic, Noor Ali, Jozef Kaplan (C), Basil Teo (Asshidiq Wahid 81'), Wahyudi Abd Wahid

Warriors FC
Hassan Sunny (GK), Zulfadli Zainal Abidin, Abdil Qaiyyim, Daniel Bennett (C), Tatsuro Inui (Hafsyar Farkhan 61'), Shimpei Sakurada (Matthew Abraham 61'), Shukor Zailan, Shi Jiayi (Sufian Anuar 70'), Mislav Karoglan, Marin Vidosevic, Erwan Gunawan

-------------------

Hougang United
Fadhil Salim (GK), Thomas Beattie, Liam Shotton (Fairoz Hasan 56'), Syaqir Sulaiman, Lau Meng Meng (C), Fazli Jaffar (Basit Hamid 92'), Faizal Amir, Fazly Hasan, Nurhilmi Jasni (Jerome Baker 82'), Mamadou Diallo, Igor Cerina

Tampines get ACL playoff spot and will meet South China

Tampines Rovers have won the right to play in the AFC Champions League (ACL) playoff and will be squaring off against Hong Kong Champions South China in the first qualifying round.

It will be a 1 round match and is held in Singapore on February 2.

In the event, Tampines Rovers get pass South China, they will face off against a Thai Premier League side in the next qualifying round to be drawn on Dec 4.

After that, the winner will encounter a Chinese Super League side in the final qualifying round.

Both matches will be away games if Tampines get there.

In the event, Tampines Rovers failed to get into the ACL group stage they will play in the AFC Cup group stage and only teams from Australia, China and Thailand will not get that privilege.

Home reach Final

Home United reached the RHB Singapore Cup for the second time in 3 years after they defeated Balestier Khalsa 2-0 overall in the semi-final.

The Protectors won the first leg at Toa Poyah 1-0 with a goal from Masrezwan Bin Masturi.

In the second leg, played at Jalan Besar because it was salted for LIVE telecast, Home United also edged out a 1-0 win with a goal from Firdaus Idros.

Home United will now go into the Final seeking to win their sixth Singapore Cup.

Balestier Khalsa
Zaiful Nizam (GK), Paul Cunningham (C), Tengku Mushadad, Ridwan Jamil, Qiu Li, Zulkiffli Hassim (Ruhaizad Ismail 86'), Kim Minho (Patrick Paranjody 77'), Park Kang Jin, Poh Yi Feng, Syed Thaha, Obadin Aikhena

Home United
Shahril Jantan (GK), Sofiyan Abdul Hamid, Juma'at Jantan, Noh Rahman (C), Kwon Dakyung, Sirina Camara, Hafiz Rahim (Ismail Yunos 53'), Jordan Webb, Firdaus Idros (Choi Jaewon 66'), Lee Kwan Woo (Sevki Sha'ban 91'), Masrezwan Masturi

--------------------

Home United
Shahril Jantan (GK), Juma'at Jantan, Noh Rahman (C), Ismail Yunos (Hafiz Rahim 46'), Kwon Dakyung, Sirina Camara, Jordan Webb, Firdaus Idros, Lee Kwan Woo (Syahiran Miswan 94'), Masrezwan Masturi (Sofiyan Abdul Hamid 90'), Song Uiyoung

Balestier Khalsa
Zaiful Nizam (GK), Hamqaamal Shah, Paul Cunningham (C), Tengku Mushadad, Ruhaizad Ismail, Kim Minho (Ahmad Syahir 75'), Park Kang Jin, Poh Yi Feng (Ridwan Jamil 79'), Obadin Aikhena, Qiu Li, Patrick Paranjody (Suria Prakash 46')

Jagaurs are back in the Final after 15 years

Tanjong Pagar United make their first Singapore Cup Final in 15 years after they defeated Philippines side Global FC 4-3 overall.

In the first leg, played at Queenstown, it only took the Philippine side just seven minutes to open the scoring when Misagh Bahadoran fired home Aaron Altiche’s fine cross at the far post, but Tanjong Pagar equalised on the half-hour mark when Ismael Benahmed applied the finishing touches to a wonderfully-worked set-piece routine.

The hosts then edged ahead in the 49th minute when Monsef Zerka was left with an easy tap-in after Roland Dely Sadia had flapped at a cross, but 20 minutes from time, Aurelien Herisson made a similar mistake at the other end to allow Altiche to slot home the equaliser.

Thus there was no separating them in the first leg and the outcome of the second leg will prove crucial and it was so.

Monsef Zerka got the Jaguars off to a dream start when he netted with a close-range header in the third minute, before netting a second from the spot two minutes before the hour mark.

The Morocco international did however score an own-goal in the 71st minute to hand the Philippine giants a lifeline, but Tanjong Pagar did enough in the end to hold on and book their place in the final, where they will meet Home United.

Tanjong Pagar United
Aurelien Herisson (GK), Hafiz Osman, Walid Lounis, Anthony Aymard, Azhar Ahmad, Ahmad Latiff (C), Hanafi Salleh, Ismael Benahmed, Kamel Ramdani, Asraf Rashid (K. Vikraman 70’), Monsef Zerka

---------------------

Tanjong Pagar United
Aurelien Herisson (GK), Hafiz Osman, Walid Lounis, Anthony Aymard, Zahid Ahmad, Ahmad Latiff (C), John Wilkinson (Hafiz Nor 68’(Zulfadhli Emran 90’)), Kamel Ramdani, Asraf Rashid (Hanafi Salleh 85’), Ismael Benahmed, Monsef Zerka

Home keep up the chase for second with win

After falling behind at the Woodlands Stadium in the eighth minute to Moon Soon-ho's opener, the Protectors must feared that they were going to be hit black in the eye after their previous 0-3 loss against Hougang.

But this time they hit back when in the 20th minute when Masrezwan Masturi levelled the scores.

Sirina Camara then wasted an excellent chance to put the visitors in front when he saw his penalty saved by Yazid Yasin shortly after the hour mark, but they eventually took the lead in the 70th minute when Jordan Webb found the back of the net.

Four minutes later, Webb added a second to make it 3-1 and the strike proved crucial when Chang Jo-yoon pulled one back for the Rams in the 80th minute, although Home did enough to hang on to the three points.

The result meant the Protectors are only 1 point behind second-placed Albirex Niigata (S).

In other matches, Warriors FC and Hougang played to a 1-1 draw, Harimau Muda also played to a 2-2 draw with Geylang International and DPMM Brunei beat Courts Young Lions 3-2.

Mislav Karoglan put Warriors FC ahead before Mamadou Diallo equalised for the Cheetahs.

Faizat Ghazli and Syafiq Shalihin scored for the Malaysian side with Jozef Kaplan and Taufiq Ghani replying for the Eagles.

Hendra Azam, Shahrazen Said and Rodrigo Tosi scored for DPMM with Raihan Rahman and Sherif El-Masri replying for the Cubs.

Woodlands Wellington
Yazid Yasin (GK), Cho Sunghwan, Shahril Alias, Shariff Samat, Rosman Sulaiman, Theerawekin Seehawong, Atsushi Shimono, Armanizam Dolah (C) (Ang Zhiwei 57'), Chang Jo Yoon, Goh Swee Swee (Fadhil Noh 72'), Moon Soonho

Home United
Shahril Jantan (GK), Juma'at Jantan, Noh Rahman (C), Kwon Dakyung (Sevki Sha'ban 87'), Sirina Camara, Hafiz Rahim, Jordan Webb, Firdaus Idros, Lee Kwan Woo (Nur Hizami 77'), Masrezwan Masturi, Song Uiyoung

------------------

Warriors FC
Hassan Sunny (GK), Zulfadli Zainal Abidin, Kazuyuki Toda, Abdil Qaiyyim, Jeremy Chiang, Daniel Bennett (C), Tatsuro Inui, Shimpei Sakurada (Erwan Gunawan 75'), Shi Jiayi, Mislav Karoglan, Sufian Anuar (Dharham Aziz 68')

Hougang United
Fadhil Salim (GK), Syaqir Sulaiman, Lau Meng Meng (C), Thomas Beattie, Jerome Baker (Liam Shotton 71'), Fazli Jaffar (Basit Hamid 76'), Faizal Amir, Fazly Hasan, Fairoz Hasan (Azhar Sairudin 55'), Mamadou Diallo, Igor Cerina

------------------

Geylang International
Takuma Ito (GK), Delwinder Singh, Norihiro Kawakami, Wyldan Wisam, Jalal, Stefan Milojevic, Noor Ali, Jozef Kaplan (C), Nurhazwan Norasikin (Wahyudi Abd Wahid 63'), Taufiq Ghani (Fuad Ramli 83'), Asshidiq Wahid (Andrew Tan 46')

------------------

Courts Young Lions
Syazwan Buhari (GK), Faiz Salleh (Al-Qaasimy Rahman 13’), Sheikh Abdul Hadi, Afiq Yunos (C), Ali Hudzaifi, Shamil Sharif (Farhan Rahmat 55’), Raihan Rahman, Sherif El-Masri, Sahil Suhaimi, Stanely Ng (Fareez Farhan 66’), Iqbal Hussain

Tampines have to wait a while longer

Tell me who does not know Tampines Rovers will be champions barring an amazing collapse never seem before.

Still it has to be mathematical impossible before it is official and the Eastern giant will have to wait a while longer.

They managed to collect a 'disappointing' 4 points in their 2 games in 4 days when they needed all 6 so they cannot be declared champions.

They defeated Tanjong Pagar United 3-1 with goals fromm Seiji Kaneko, Jamil Ali and Vitor Ladeiras first S-league goal.

Kamel Ramdani manage to pull one back for Tanjong Pagar when he converted a penalty.

In their second match, they could only gained a point with a 0-0 draw with Balestier Khalsa.

As for second-placed Albirex Niigata (S), they continued their miserable of being winless in 10 matches in all competition now after their 1-3 defeat against Warriors at Jurong East.

It was despite the White Swans edging ahead when Bruno Castanheira found the back of the net seven minutes after the break.

However, the visitors pulled level in the 69th minute through a Sufian Anuar strike, before Mislav Karoglan and Shi Jiayi netted to hand them all three points.

After that result, Albirex Niigata (S) finally ended the rot as they played 4 days later as well as they defeated a Tanjong Pagar, who were also on a bad run themselves with 3 losses in 4 games, 2-0 at Queenstown Stadium.

The goals came from Kazuki Sakamoto and Shingo Suzuki

Tampines Rovers
Andre Martins (GK), Ruzaini Zainal (Shaiful Esah 80’), Kunihiro Yamashita, Seiji Kaneko, Jufri Taha, Fahrudin Mustafic (C), Shahdan Sulaiman, Imran Sahib (Firdaus Kasman 65’), Jamil Ali, Ismadi Mukhtar (Vitor Ladeiras 34’), Aleksandar Duric.

Tanjong Pagar United
Aurelien Herisson (GK), K. Vikraman, Ahmad Latiff (C), Anthony Aymard, Azhar Ahmad, Hafiz Nor, Zulfadhli Emran, Hanafi Salleh, Asraf Rashid (Hafiz Osman 77’), Kamel Ramdani, Ismael Benahmed

--------------------

Warriors FC
Hassan Sunny (GK), Zulfadli Zainal Abidin, Kazuyuki Toda, Abdil Qaiyyim, Matthew Abraham, Daniel Bennett (C), Tatsuro Inui, Shimpei Sakurada, Mislav Karoglan, Marin Vidosevic, Erwan Gunawan

--------------------

Balestier Khalsa
Zakariah Nerani (GK), Hamqaamal Shah (Zulkiffli Hassim 46'), Paul Cunningham (C), Tengku Mushadad, Jaslee Hatta, Ridwan Jamil, Kim Minho, Park Kang Jin, Poh Yi Feng, Syed Thaha, Qiu Li

Tampines Rovers
Andre Martins (GK), Jufri Taha, Kunihiro Yamashita, Fahrudin Mustafic (C), Shahdan Sulaiman, Aleksandar Duric (Ahmed Fahmie 85'), Vitor Ladeiras (Khairul Amri 46'), Seiji Kaneko, Imran Sahib (Diogo Caramelo 77'), Ruzaini Zainal, Jamil Ali

--------------------

Tanjong Pagar United
Aurelien Herisson (GK), Anthony Aymard, Hafiz Osman (C) (Walid Lounis 80'), Hanafi Salleh, Azhar Ahmad, Zahid Ahmad, Kamel Ramdani, Hafiz Nor, K Vikraman, Ismael Benahmed, Monsef Zerka

Home tripped up by Hougang

Home United who were seeking to go second with a win saw their hopes dashed after they went down a crushing 0-3 defeat at Bishan to Hougang United.

Hougang had only just won their previous match after a run of 11 games without a win and the build on it against the Protectors.

Even so it was nothing short of a shock as Home were on an impressive run of 5 wins in a row and now they have to rebuild their morale as they faced coach Paul Lee after such a result.

Fazli Jaffar, Mamadou Diallo and Baker Jerome got the goals for the Cheetahs.

In other matches, Cubs won their second match this season as they beat Geylang International 1-0 with a goal from Sherif EL-Masri, DPMM Brunei beat Harimau Muda 3-1 and Woodlands Wellington beat Balestier Khalsa 2-1.

Rodrigo Antonio Tosi scored a brace with Abdul Aziz adding in between for the Brunei side 3 goals with Akmal Ishak replying for the Malaysian side.

The Rams opener came after an own goal with Park Kang-jin equalising for the Tigers before Chang Jo-yoon found the back of the net to hand Woodlands all three points.

Geylang International
Takuma Ito (GK), Delwinder Singh (Asshidiq Wahid 80'), Duncan Elias (Andrew Tan 46'), Norihiro Kawakami, Wyldan Wisam, Jalal, Yasir Hanapi, Stefan Milojevic, Jozef Kaplan (C), Taufiq Ghani, Shotaro Ihata (Fuad Ramli 59')

Courts Young Lions
Syazwan Buhari (GK), Afiq Yunos (C), Sheikh Abdul Hadi, Shamil Sharif, Nur Naiim Ishak (Tajeli Salamat 76'), Faiz Salleh, Nur Ridho (Stanely Ng 54'), Iqbal Hamid Hussain, Sahil Suhaimi, Hanafi Ghazali (Farhan Rahmat 54'), Sherif El-Masri

--------------------

Balestier Khalsa
Zaiful Nizam (GK), Yusiskandar Yusop (Ridwan Jamil 74'), Paul Cunningham (C), Tengku Mushadad, Jaslee Hatta, Kim Minho, Park Kang Jin, Syed Thaha, Obadin Aikhena (Poh Yi Feng 55'), Qiu Li, Zulkiffli Hassim (Suria Prakash 74')

Woodlands Wellington
Yazid Yasin (GK) (Nazri Sabri 49'), Cho Sunghwan, Shariff Samat, Rosman Sulaiman, Theerawekin Seehawong, Atsushi Shimono, Armanizam Dolah (C)(Farizal Basri 74'), Ridhwan Osman (Fadhil Noh 65'), Chang Jo Yoon, Goh Swee Swee, Moon Soonho

--------------------

Home United
Shahril Jantan GK (C), Juma'at Jantan, Sevki Sha'ban, Sirina Camara, Haziq Azman (Nur Hizami 46'), Hafiz Rahim (Choi Jaewon 46'), Jordan Webb, Firdaus Idros, Lee Kwan Woo, Masrezwan Masturi, Nor Azli Yusoff (Kwon Dakyung 74')

Hougang United
Fadhil Salim (GK), Thomas Beattie, Syaqir Sulaiman, Lau Meng Meng (C), Azhar Sairudin, Fazli Jaffar, Faizal Amir, Nurhilmi Jasni (Liam Shotton 77'), Fairoz Hasan (Jerome Baker 67'), Mamadou Diallo (Sobrie Mazelan 88'), Igor Cerina

Balestier win their first trophy

Starhub League Cup 2013 Final

Balestier Khalsa 4-0 DPMM Brunei

Balestier Khalsa
Zaiful Nizam (GK), Yusiskandar Yusop, Jaslee Hatta (Poh Yi Feng 49'), Obadin Aikhena, Syed Thaha, Ridwan Jamil, Kim Min-ho, Park Kang-jin, Ruhaizad Ismail (Zulkiffli Hassim 14', Tengku Mushadad 77'), Qiu Li, Paul Cunningham

After discounting for last year Plate Cup which is not even ranked high enough to have it page on the S-league website, this was Balestier Khalsa first ever trophy and this time nobody can ignored that right.

And the Toa Poyah side deserved that as they dominated the Brunei side who were in their third Final in five years and destroyed them.

Right after skipper Paul David Cunningham got the opener in the fifteen minute, the Brunei side were never in it again as Kim Minho soon got another on the half hour mark.

In the second period, goals from Poh Yi Feng and Tengku Mushadad killed of the Brunei side hopes forever.

With that domination, who can claimed Balestier Khalsa are not worthy League Cup champions.

Balestier and DPMM Brunei reached Starhub League Cup Final

Balestier Khalsa reached their first ever Cup Final in the professional era (unless one considered last year Plate Cup was worthy of being considered a Cup) with a 1-0 win over Albirex Niigata (S) at Jurong East.

Albirex Niigata (S) who have been on a wretched run of not winning in 2 months since defeating DPMM Brunei in June showcased that as they were unable to break down a resolute Balestier defence despite home advantage.

And the Tigers took full advantage as they scored through Park Kang Jin early in the game and never looked back.

As for defending champions DPMM Brunei, there will be no lacked of that Final experience as it was their third Final in five years after they defeated Woodlands Wellington 1-0.

Hendra Azam got the winner.

In the Plate Cup Final, Harimau Muda won their first trophy after they defeated Courts Young Lions 2-0 at Jalan Besar.

Syazwan Tajudin and Asri Mardzuki got the goals for the Malaysian side.

Balestier Khalsa
Zaiful Nizam (GK), Poh Yi Feng, Obadin Aikhena, Jaslee Hatta, Syed Thaha, Ridwan Jamil (Shafuan Sutohmoh 80’), Kim Min-ho, Park Kang-jin, Ruhaizad Ismail (Tengku Mushadad 70’), Zulkiffli Hassim (Rasmus Fristedt 90’), Paul Cunningham (C)

--------------------

Woodlands Wellington Yazid Yasin, Ang Zhiwei, Shariff Samat, Rosman Sulaiman, Taufiq Rahmat (Hidhir Hasbiallah 66’), Cho Sung-hwan, Atsushi Shimono, Theeraweekin Seehawong, Moon Soon-ho, Chang Jo-yoon, Fadhil Noh (Ridhwan Osman 54’).

--------------------

Plate Cup Final

Courts Young Lions
Rudy Khairullah (GK), Ali Hudzaifi (Nurullah Hussein 61'), Firman Hanif, Tajeli Salamat, M. Anumanthan, Ignatius Ang (Nur Na'iim Ishak 54'), Sahil Suhaimi, Farhan Rahmat, Iqbal Hussain, Muhaymin Salim (Fareez Farhan 75'), Sherif El-Masri

Home within sight of second

Home United moved within sight of second after they beat Courts Young Lions 1-0 while Albirex Niigata (S) dropped points once again.

The Protectors winner came from Jordan Webb.

Meanwhile Albirex Niigata (S) had to settle for a point against Balestier Khalsa as both side played to a stalemate with neither side able to get a goal.

This results meant the Protectors were only 1 point behind Albirex Niigata (S) now.

In another match played in the afternoon in Malaysia, Hougang United beat Harimau Muda 2-1.

Mamadou Diallo and Azhar Sairudin got the goals for the Hougang side with Maxsius Musa replying for Harimau Muda.

Home United
Shahril Jantan (GK), Juma'at Jantan, Noh Rahman (C), Sirina Camara (Sevki Sha'ban 90'), Hafiz Rahim (Kwon Dakyung 46'), Jordan Webb, Firdaus Idros, Lee Kwan Woo, Masrezwan Masturi, Indra Sahdan, Song Uiyoung (Syahiran Miswan 83')

Courts Young Lions
Syazwan Buhari (GK), Al-Qaasimy Rahman, Sheikh Abdul Hadi, Firman Hanif, Raihan Rahman (C), Anumanthan Kumar, Shamil Sharif (Afiq Noor 54'), Faiz Salleh (Sahil Suhaimi 66'), Iqbal Hamid Hussain (Ignatius Ang 74'), Muhaymin Salim, Sherif El-Masri

---------------------

Balestier Khalsa
Zaiful Nizam (GK), Poh Yi Feng, Obadin Aikhena, Jaslee Hatta, Syed Thaha, Ridwan Jamil (Shafuan Sutohmoh 80’), Kim Min-ho, Park Kang-jin, Ruhaizad Ismail (Tengku Mushadad 70’), Zulkiffli Hassim (Rasmus Fristedt 90’), Paul Cunningham (C)

---------------------

Hougang United
Fadhil Salim (GK) (C), Syaqir Sulaiman, Azhar Sairudin (Sobrie Mazelan 74'), Fazli Jaffar, Faizal Amir, Fazly Hasan, Nurhilmi Jasni (Lau Meng Meng 31'), Fairoz Hasan (Jerome Baker 59'), Thomas Beattie, Mamadou Diallo, Igor Cerina

Home up to third and a place in playoff

Home United moved up to third and is guarantee a place in the playoff after crushing Harimau Muda 4-0 at Bishan.

Indra Sahdan scored a brace while Jordan Webb got the other goal. Muda also conceded an own goal.

In other matches, Tanjong Pagar drew 1-1 with Geylang International, Warriors FC beat DPMM Brunei 3-1 and Woodlands Wellington drew 3-3 with Tampines Rovers.

Shotaro Ihata scored for the Eagles while Ramdani Kamel reply for the Jaguars.

Shimpei Sakurada scored for the Warriors with Mislav Karoglan getting a brace. Tales Ricarte Dos Santos got the consolation goal for the Brunei side.

Moon Soon Ho, Chang Jo Yoon and Shariff Abdul Samat got the goals for the Rams with Stags goals coming from Aleksandar Duric, Fahrudin Mustafic and Jamil Ali.

Home United
Shahril Jantan (GK), Ismail Yunos (Jordan Webb 31'), Noh Rahman, Sirina Camara, Juma'at Jantan, Hafiz Rahim, Song Ui-young, Firdaus Idros, Lee Kwan-woo (Kwon Dak-yung 76'), Indra Sahdan Daud, Masrezwan Masturi (Sevki Sha'ban 57')

---------------------

Tanjong Pagar United
Aurelien Herisson (GK), Hanafi Salleh (Shafiq Noh 81'), Anthony Aymard, Zahid Ahmad, Azhar Ahmad, Hafiz Nor, John Wilkinson, Kamel Ramdani, Asraf Rashid (Irfan Ibrahim 86'), Ismael Benahmed, Monsef Zerka

Geylang International
Takuma Ito (GK), Harithzan Jantan (Wyldan Wisam 75'), Wahyudi Wahid (Fuad Ramli 36'), Norihiro Kawakami, Jalal, Taufiq Ghani, Yasir Hanapi, Duncan Elias (Andrew Tan 46'), Stefan Milojevic, Shotaro Ihata, Jozef Kaplan

---------------------

Warriors FC
Hassan Sunny (GK), Jeremy Chiang, Daniel Bennett, Marin Vidosevic, Zulfadli Zainal Abidin, Shi Jiayi, Kazuyuki Toda, Shimpei Sakurada, Matthew Abraham (Prakash Manikam 69'), Tatsuro Inui, Mislav Karoglan

----------------------

Woodlands Wellington
Yazid Yasin (GK), Ang Zhiwei, Shahril Alias, Shariff Samat, Rosman Sulaiman (Taufiq Rahmat 90'), Atsushi Shimono, Cho Sung-hwan, Fadhil Noh (Ridhwan Osman 82'), Theeraweekin Seehawong, Chang Jo-yoon, Moon Soon-ho

Tampines Rovers
Andre Martins (GK), Ruzaini Zainal, Kunihiro Yamashita, Seiji Kaneko, Jufri Taha, Fahrudin Mustafic, Shahdan Sulaiman, Firdaus Kasman (Diogo Caramelo 89'), Vitor Ladeiras (Jamil Ali 44'), Khairul Amri (Imran Sahib 70'), Aleksandar Duric

Tampines crushed DPMM to open up 11-point lead

Tampines Rovers opened up a massive 11-point gap with a 6-2 thrashing of DPMM Brunei in Hassanal Bolkiah National.

Stags top scorer Aleksandar Duric was once again the man who did the most damage as he net a hat-trick with Khairul Amri and Shahdan Sulaiman scoring as well. Newcomer Diogo Caramelo got his goal when he came on for Aleksandar Duric.

Adi Bin Said and Tales Dos Santosscored for the Brunei side.

In other matches, Woodlands Wellington beat Geylang International 2-1 whileCourts Young Lions shocked Tanjong Pagar 1-0.

Chang Jo Yoon opened the scoring for the Rams with Jozef Kaplan gettig the equaliser for the Eagles before Rosman Sulaiman secured all 3 points for the 'away side' at Jalan Besar.

An own goal cost the Jaguars even the chance to gain 1 point in their game against the Cubs.

Geylang International
Takuma Ito (GK), Wahyudi Wahid, Khayrulhayat Jumat, Norihiro Kawakami, Jalal, Basil Teo (Fuad Ramli 90'), Taufiq Ghani (Shotaro Ihata 40'), Noor Ali, Jozef Kaplan (C), Duncan Elias (Andrew Tan 46'), Stefan Milojevic 

Woodlands Wellington
Yazid Yasin (GK), Shahril Alias, Shariff Samat, Rosman Sulaiman, Ang Zhiwei, Atsushi Shimono, Cho Sung-hwan, Taufiq Rahmat (Goh Swee Swee 63', Fadhil Noh 85'), Theeraweekin Seehawong, Moon Soon-ho, Chang Jo-yoon (Ridhwan Osman 90')

---------------------

Tanjong Pagar United
Aurelien Herisson (GK), Anthony Aymard, Hanafi Salleh, Zahid Ahmad, Asraf Rashid, Ahmad Latiff (C), Hafiz Nor, K Vikraman, John Wilkinson, Ismael Benahmed, Monsef Zerka

Courts Young Lions
Rudy Khairullah (GK), Sheikh Abdul Hadi, Firman Hanif, Raihan Rahman (C), Anumanthan Kumar, Shamil Sharif (Afiq Noor 93'), Faiz Salleh, Iqbal Hamid Hussain (Ignatius Ang 79'), Muhaymin Salim (Sahil Suhaimi 67'), Hanafi Ghazali, Sherif El-Masri

---------------------

Tampines Rovers
Andre Martins (GK), Jufri Taha, Kunihiro Yamashita, Vitor Ladeiras (Jamil Ali 66'), Seiji Kaneko, Fahrudin Mustafic (C), Shahdan Sulaiman, Ruzaini Zainal, Firdaus Kasman, Aleksandar Duric (Diogo Caramelo 82'), Khairul Amri (Imran Sahib 71')

Tampines draw with Albirex

Champion and leader Tampines Rovers played to a 3-3 draw with second-placed Albirex Niigata (S).

It could have been much worse as the Japanese side came back from 2 goals down to lead 3-2 with 15 minutes left but the defending champions showed why they are leading the table with an 8 points over Albirex as they fought back to a 3-3 draw with a goal from Aleksandar Duric.

The Singaporean forward had also opened the scoring for Tampines with Fahrudin Mustafic adding the second goal.

Kento Nagasaki, Kazuki Sakamoto and Shingo Suzuki scored for Albirex.

In other matches, DPMM Brunei and Balestier Khalsa played to a 1-1 draw while  Warriors beat Hougang 2-1.

Qiu Li opened the scoring for the Tigers while Tales Ricarte Dos Santos reply late in the second period for the Brunei side.

Marin Vidosevic and Mislav Karoglan scored for Warriors with Fairoz Hasan scoring a late consolation goal.  

Tampines Rovers
Ridhuan Barudin (GK), Anaz Hadee (Jufri Taha 68'), Kunihiro Yamashita, Seiji Kaneko, Ruzaini Zainal, Fahrudin Mustafic (Imran Sahib 75'), Firdaus Kasman, Shahdan Sulaiman, Jamil Ali (Khairul Amri 46'), Vitor Ladeiras, Aleksandar Duric

--------------------

Balestier Khalsa
Zaiful Nizam (GK), Yusiskandar Yusop (Poh Yi Feng 80'), Tengku Mushadad, Jaslee Hatta (C), Ridwan Jamil, Ruhaizad Ismail (Zulkiffli Hassim 46'), Kim Minho, Park Kang Jin, Syed Thaha, Obadin Aikhena, Qiu Li (Patrick Paran 85')

--------------------

Hougang United
Fadhil Salim (GK) (C), Shahir Hamzah, Hasree Zais, Igor Cerina, Fazly Hasan, Nurhilmi Jasni, Thomas Beattie, Azhar Sairudin (Syaqir Sulaiman 79'), Fazli Jaffar, Liam Shotton (Fairoz Hasan 81'), Jerome Baker (Sobrie Mazelan 71')

Warriors FC
Hassan Sunny (GK), Jeremy Chiang, Daniel Bennett (C), Marin Vidosevic, Zulfadli Zainal Abidin, Matthew Abraham (Shi Jiayi 63'), Kazuyuki Toda, Shimpei Sakurada (Hafsyar Farkhan 75'), Tatsuro Inui, Erwan Gunawan (Abdil Qaiyyim 84'), Mislav Karoglan

Time for certain games to be set in stone in S-league fixture list

As the 2013 season end, there are many things fans may hoped for the new season but the question is which one should be first in line.

For me, it is the S-league fixture list for it set the tone for the upcoming season and like how the S-league slots was once the sore thumb, the fixture list is now taking over it.

Do not tell me S-league CEO Mr Lim still does not know who are the 12 teams in the league next season and if that is not the case, then it is time he get the FAS Director of Competitions to get to work already.

There should be no more excuses especially as our S-league CEO is no longer a greenhorn and has been 'in charge' for 18 months already.

He must know the fans do not accept that the fixture list cannot be finalised before February virtually every year having been at the end of that criticisms last season.

Also his excuse that it is for the reason S-league will finally see the end of postponement of games have no ground to stand on as there were still a number of that happening in 2013, I might add.

So he must show he is worthy of his $100k cheque for if he cannot take on this task then what chances does he have with even tougher assignments on hand as he noted in his many interviews.

Also at this point of S-league history, S-league should have some fixtures that can be fixed at certain point.

Example is this article below from four four two (Australia version).

One can see A-league is seeking to make certain dates in the calender their own and that is a good point to follow.

For one thing, it will allow fans to know certain games will be played at that point in the year and momentum can be build up for it unlike now where one is still uncertain about when a big game is played.

A-league is not the only one to follow that with the Scottish Premier league playing their two biggest derby - Old firm and Edinburgh - in the festive period in Christmas and New Year.

And the Barclays Premier League also sold their Big 4 weekend for a number of years back when one knew who the Big 4 were.

So one can see the benefits of fixing certain games at certain point in the calender so which ones should be chosen.

The easy one should be the uniform Derby and Home United can played in Bishan on Total Defence Day (February 15) with the Warriors playing in Choa Chu Kang on SAF day (July 1).

After that, what other games can be played and when, here are my viewpoints.

For clubs like champions Tampines Rovers, it could come on the day or week that their new Town were constructed and it could be noted as a celebration of the birth of the Town.

Afterall, Tampines Town have a history of 34 years already and it own football club should link up with that especially when they move back East after the new hub is build.

A carnival festival can be set up for it and a game against Derby rival Geylang International to be played during that week is more than appropriate.

In addition, to show appreciation for fans group like the Hougang Hools and Black Sheep, a date can be set for them and other than the official game, it can even be arranged for the rival fan group to play a short game before kick off.

This can surely bring the relationship between fans group and club a step closer.

Finally, not leaving out the foreign clubs, both Albirex Niigata (S) and Harimau Muda can played a home game in the week of their national birthday. (Japan should be February 11 and Malaysia is August 31)

Their opposition could be (1) Courts Young Lions or the Uniform teams, as they have links with central authority or (2) the S-league champions for playing the best team in the land at that date can be seem as more than appropriate.

After 17 years of S-league, the fixture list should no longer be a mystery to fans where they have to guess when certain games are played and it is time for S-league CEO Mr Lim to act on it; especially in releasing it out in the first of January and not February.

$200 million should have been higher now as long as it is the right one

Some may have been shocked at the headline and think I have become cuckoo as they may not even think the $200 million figure is fact, let alone think the figure should be higher.

I would like to state that the Goal article had noted our (Why is he still here) FAS President, Zainudin Noordin statement is $200 million to the Singapore economy, not Singapore football so it does not mean the football industry will benefit from it.

Also the $200 million is Gross Domestic Product (GDP) number so it is not talking about cold hard cash.

A good example to describe both statement above is the rental of stadiums from Singapore Sport Council ($$C) by S-league clubs.

It contributed to the GDP figure as the stadiums, which would have been left unused, are utilised.

However the cost to the S-league are a killer as we see $$C received as much as $1.2 million in cold hard cash in 2011 from the clubs while $$C own contribution is on their books in term of "subsidises".

So we can see why it is a negative for Singapore football, especially S-league, even as it make the GDP number look good for it take cash out of our hands when we need it ourselves.

Indeed the only organisation to benefit is $$C as S-league cash filled their coffers while also enhancing their own GDP contributions to the economy.

However GDP is still important as it can indicate the real spending power of the industry for back in 2007 when the $200 million figure had already been mentioned by then FAS President Ho Peng Kee, we saw how it had enhanced the spending power of the clubs with the salary cap able to shoot up from $64k per month in 2005 to $84K per month in 2008; an increase of 32% in 4 years as the clubs can afford it.

Since then under the current inept FAS president, the salary cap has only gone up a mere $1k in his 4 years in charge; an increase of 1%.

And it is reflected in the GDP contribution which had stagnated at the same level for nearly 5 years.

Based on a dummy guide on inflation affecting spending power, real spending power can only be maintained if we doubled our income, or in this case, GDP, every decade.

So our GDP should now be $300 million; not the $200 million mentioned back in 2007 already.

However as I noted at the headline the GDP increase must be in term of the right one as GDP is a word that is disliked today in Singapore as well as in many nations in East Asia for it has not helped much of the general public even as East Asia share of the world GDP raised in recent time.

Going back to the rental example, Singapore football contribution can raise easily if $$C further increase the rent on their stadiums but it will hurt us.

That is not a GDP raise we need.

With the wrong type of GDP, we may end up like the construction industry where despite being a major contribution to the Singapore GDP at around 5%, it is viewed as a poor industry to work in with low-skilled workers and equally poor salaries plaguing it.

It does not have to be so for in Hong Kong, the construction industry there has high salaries as it is viewed as a skilled industry for the most experienced and highly-skilled are called shifu by their clients and employers (I used the Hong Kong example as in term of region and culture, it is much similar to Singapore and if they can pay their highly-skilled workers well Singapore employers should not think otherwise or we will always be low-skilled)

That is why with the right GDP increase which lead to cash in the hand of clubs, the salary cap can resume on it upward trajectory like back in 2008 when the salary cap was really increased.

Yet by having not grown the industry much, if any, in his 4 years, our inept FAS president has hurt us as his era coincided with an era of high inflation and it has badly eroded the real spending power of S-league and Singapore football.

He should not be proudly mentioning the figure and indeed be questioning why it has stagnated under him.

It should be $300 million now and not $200 million, Mr Zainudin Noordin.

Tay content with Tampines' 'comfortable' lead

Tampines coah Tay Peng Kee was content after his side stretched their lead at the top of the Great Eastern-YEO's S-League with a 4-2 win over Courts Young Lions.

The result was enough to move Tampines eight points clear of second-placed Albirex Niigata (S) with a game in hand, and Tay admits he is pleased with where his side are heading into the final stretch of the season.

"We are in a comfortable position," he said. "As far as we are concerned, we are trying to wrap up the title as soon as possible.

"It's definitely a good sign to go into the [international] break with an eight-point lead.

"Hopefully, this will also demoralise the rest of the teams that are chasing us."

Nonetheless, the ex-Singapore international was slightly disappointed with how there were times when his side were put under pressure by their opponents, who have only picked up three points all season long, although he claimed he was always confident they would get the job done despite missing a number of first-teamers.

"It has always been the case for Tampines," Tay explained.

"We always struggle when we play against weaker opponents; I don't know why. This is probably because of complacency.

"Shaiful [Esah], Jufri [Taha] and our first-choice goalkeeper [Andre Martins] were all out today [Tuesday], but that's football. You have to have a strong squad.

"I was definitely not worried even when Young Lions scored the opener as we went on the aggressive after that. I like my team to play aggressive football.

"You can see we press and go forward but we can sometimes get caught out. But if it doesn't work, we are capable of changing the plan and sitting back instead."

The hosts were also without a number of key players and Young Lions coach Aide Iskandar believes there were positives to take from Tuesday's defeat.

"Of course, it was a much better performance from the boys [compared to the 2-1 defeat against Harimau Muda]," he said. "We passed the ball well and looked good in some parts of the game.

"It's not easy playing Tampines and we had a few key players out like Afiq [Yunos], [Sheikh Abdul] Hadi and [M.] Anu[manthan]. I thought we did well but I wasn't too happy with the two goals we conceded in the first half.

"Other than that, I have to give credit to the boys for coming back after the Harimau defeat. Today [Tuesday] was a positive performance."

Given his side's struggles this season, which have not been helped by the Young Lions' longstanding issues with the players' National Service (NS) commitments, the former Singapore captain was also hopeful that the league would be more considerate when scheduling their fixtures.

"I hate to say this but it's not fair for me to push the players too much because they're coming from NS duties, school and it's the fasting month as well," Aide added. "It's a bit too much for them and I think that's the reason why we haven't done well during Ramadan.

"Plus the games are being played on weekdays. I hope they [the S.League] will take this into consideration and play our games on weekends.

"All three points we got so far were from matches on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

"You can see today [Tuesday] that Syazwan [Buhari] was running out of breath; he was on [NS] duty for 24 hours and only slept for four hours. But he's my best goalkeeper and I have to play him in a match likes this.

"I know NS is an issue and we have to work around it, but I hope the fixtures can be kind to us."

No stopping Tampines

Tampines Rovers beat Courts Young Lions 4-2 to open up a 8-point lead at the top and the champions still have a game in hand.

Despite falling behind in the top-against-bottom clash at the Jalan Besar Stadium after Iqbal Hussain opened the scoring in the 14th minute, the Stags overturned the deficit shortly after the half-hour mark thanks to quickfire goals from Kunihiro Yamashita and Shahdan Sulaiman.

Their lead was extended in the 63rd minute when Fahrudin Mustafic fired home a penalty following an incident which also saw Farhan Rahmat receive a straight red for handling the ball on the line, before the Tampines captain made it 4-1 with another spot-kick seven minutes later to wrap up the points, although the hosts did manage to pull one back 16 minutes from time when Yamashita scored an unfortunate own-goal.

In another match, Warriors FC drew 0-0 with Geylang International, a result that will do neither side any favours in their bid to finish in the top six.

Courts Young Lions
Syazwan Buhari (GK), Al-Qaasimy Rahman, Raihan Rahman, Firman Hanif, Farhan Rahmat, Nur Na'iim Ishak, Afiq Noor (Sufianto Salleh 88'), Iqbal Hussain, Sahil Suhaimi (Muhaymin Salim 75'), Fareez Farhan (Tajeli Salamat 64'), Sherif El-Masri

Tampines Rovers
Ridhuan Barudin (GK), Anaz Hadee (Ismadi Mukhtar 61'), Fahrudin Mustafic, Kunihiro Yamashita, Ruzaini Zainal, Shahdan Sulaiman, Firdaus Kasman, Vitor Ladeiras (Imran Sahib 77'), Jamil Ali, Khairul Amri, Aleksandar Duric (Diogo Caramelo 71')

---------------------

Warriors FC
Hassan Sunny (GK), Zulfadli Zainal Abidin (C), Kazuyuki Toda, Abdil Qaiyyim (Daniel Bennett 29'), Tatsuro Inui, Shimpei Sakurada, Mislav Karoglan, Sufian Anuar (Shukor Zailan 72'), Marin Vidosevic, Jeremy Chiang, Matthew Abraham (Shi Jiayi 68')

Geylang International
Takuma Ito (GK), Duncan Elias (Shotaro Ihata 53'), Norihiro Kawakami, Jalal, Yasir Hanapi, Stefan Milojevic (Andrew Tan 80'), Noor Ali, Jozef Kaplan (C), Taufiq Ghani, Basil Teo, Wahyudi Abd Wahid

Stewart happy to keep playing 'poorly'

Balestier Khalsa coach Darren Stewart humorously hit back at his side's detractors following 3-1 win over Hougang United in the Great Eastern-YEO's S.League.

The result was enough to take Balestier up to fourth on the table and they look on track to finish inside the top half for the second season running under Stewart.

Yet, their consistent displays have been slightly tarnished by detractors who claim the Tigers are overly aggressive and play "route one" football, with some of these criticisms stemming from opposition coaches.

Nonetheless, the good-natured Stewart chose to brush off these jibes by claiming he did not matter how badly his side were playing as long as they continued to pick up three points each game.

"We didn't do too badly for a 'bad' team," he replied with a hint of sarcasm, drawing laughs from the media congregation. "I was brought in to get results and that's what we're doing.

"As long as we keep playing 'poorly' we'll be fine."

The Australian did however give a honest appraisal of his side's display against the Cheetahs and believes they can still take their game up another level, although he was proud of their overall effort.

"That was pretty close," Stewart answered, when asked if it had been a perfect performance. "We were perhaps a little bit off our game in the first half but that's okay.

"I can't complain much really; the boys aren't robots and you can't expect them to do anything about the late goal [conceded]. There would be something wrong with me if I got too upset about that.

"We're just playing decent, winning football. I was hired to win football games
and that's what we're doing.

"I think things are looking very positive as long as we keep working hard and not get ahead of ourselves, which we won't do because there are too many good people at this club to let that happen."

Stewart did however look tired when asked again about the display of Qiu, who once again proved his value to the side with a stunning strike, when he trapped a long ball on his chest and sent a 30-yard volley looping over Fadhil Salim and into the back of the net, as well as winning the penalty for Borges to convert.

"I'm not sure why I'm still having to answer questions about Qiu Li," he said. "He's just a terrific player and a wonderful person.

"People continue to want to make a case against him but he does his talking on the pitch, as he did tonight [Monday].

"That was [a] world-class [strike] but that's why he's here. We don't need to talk about Qiu Li any more but without the other players, he won't be able to do what he does."

Meanwhile, Hougang United assistant coach Amin Nasir, speaking on behalf of Johana Johari who declined to be interviewed, believes his side's failings in the attacking third had ultimately proved the difference on the night.

"The game and the final scoreline was disappointing," he said. "But congratulations to Balestier; they played well and they are a good side.

"We improved from the [RHB Singapore Cup] quarter-finals [where they lost to Balestier on penalties after a 2-2 aggregate draw] but didn't really create chances. Balestier took shots and we tired to create, but our combination play let us down.

"Overall, we're quite pleased with the way we tried to compete. The boys tried to put on a good show but they just did not take their chances."

The defeat also means the Cheetahs can no longer finish inside the top six, and Amin admits they will now shift their attention to pulling away from the bottom two.

"Right now we're stuck inside the bottom two," he added.
"
We need to analyse what went wrong and train hard for the next game."

Qiu Li inspired Balestier

A spectacular opening strike from Qiu Li sent Balestier Khalsa on their way to a dominant 3-1 win over Hougang United in the Great Eastern-YEO's S-League at Toa Poyah.

It was dominated by the hosts after that goal and they doubled the lead when Kim Min-ho strike in 5 minutes into the second period.

Vitor Borges then wrapped up the points when he scored from the penalty spot, although the visitors did manage to grab a consolation three minutes from time when substitute Shahir Hamzah nodded home from close range.

In another match, Tanjong Pagar United recorded a 3-2 win at Woodlands Wellington to move 2 points behind Albirex Niigata (S).

Monsef Zerka got a brace along with a goal from Kamel Ramdani.

Woodlands Chang Jo-yoon reply with his own brace for the Northern club.

Woodlands Wellington
Yazid Yasin (GK), Ang Zhiwei, Shariff Samat (Fadhil Noh 81'), Shahril Alias, Rosman Sulaiman, Cho Sung-hwan, Atsushi Shimono, Armanizam Dolah (Oswind Suriya 31'), Theeraweekin Seehawong, Moon Soon-ho, Chang Jo-yoon

Tanjong Pagar United
Aurelien Herisson (GK), K. Vikraman, Ahmad Latiff, Anthony Aymard, Zahid Ahmad, Hanafi Salleh, John Wilkinson, Hafiz Nor (Azhar Ahmad 57'), Kamel Ramdani, Ismael Benahmed, Monsef Zerka

------------------

Balestier Khalsa
Zaiful Nizam (GK), Tengku Mushadad, Obadin Aikhena, Jaslee Hatta, Hamqaamal Shah, Ridwan Jamil, Kim Min-ho, Park Kang-jin, Vitor Borges (Patrick Paran 78'), Zulkiffli Hassim (Ruhaizad Ismail 75'), Qiu Li (Shafuan Sutohmoh 90')

Hougang United
Fadhil Salim (GK), Lau Meng Meng, Syaqir Sulaiman (Shahir Hamzah 82'), Igor Cerina, Fazly Hasan, Nurhilmi Jasni (Basit Hamid 82'), Thomas Beattie, Azhar Sairudin, Jerome Baker, Sobrie Mazelan (Liam Shotton 67'), Mamadou Diallo