Friday, November 12, 2010
The End For Beijing Guoan?
Tonight sees the curtain come down on SLeague 2010 with the latest Chinese side Beijing Guoan taking on Sengkang Punggol in a 10th versus 11th clash.
Beijing Guoan have won of their 32 league games up until now but their presence in the SLeague has been controversial. The people's favourite, as it were, were Yishun Super Reds but they were dropped because the league seemed to think that what Singapore football fans really needed was a Chinese team in the league.
Unfortunately fans memories of Guoan will be marred by the brawl they were involved in with Young Lions which saw young Singaporean players receive hefty suspensions and fines.
Will Beijing Guoan be with us in 2011? That remains to be see. Every year the league likes to boast that there are a heap of overseas clubs looking to join the league. Last year for example not only Yishun but a team from Darwin also missed out.
The league says this interest from overseas, next year may well see a South American team applying, is testament to the success and standard of the SLeague but the cynics out there, which includes me, will suggest that having seen the success of Etoile this year many see the SLeague as a way of getting journeymen pros noticed in Asia.
# posted by Me @ 5:49 PM 
