Monday, June 24, 2024
Albirex Humbled By Rampant Sailors
As I prepared to watch yesterday's Singapore Premier League game between Lion City Sailors and Albirex Niigata, it dawned on me I hadn't seen a league game in Singapore for eight years and it's fair to say much has happened in my absence.
The White Swans have since won the league six times along with a number of cup triumphs as well as Community Shields. They have dominated the Singapore league in much the same way SAFFC did at the start of the 21st century and it's fair to say beyond a few whiney tweets where I bemoaned these upstart crows, their success has passed me by.
Their consistency is worthy of respect - it's not as if they've achieved it by signing £50 million players and sticking them on the bench. They pretty much reinvent themselves each season!
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And here we are in 2024 and it almost feels like we're at the dawn of a seismic change in the Singapore football landscape. Albirex are now a fully local club, hopefully with a name change, while Home are now Lion City Sailors, Singapore's first privately owned club.
LCS have started the season well while Albirex have struggled to find their rhythm but surely many fans heading to Bishan Stadium would have expected a hard fought game between two top teams.
What they got was a very public visceration of a once great side. The Sailors started on the front foot and never eased off the gas and you kind of felt sorry for the experienced Hassan Sunny between the sticks for the Swans.
Not too long ago he was being feted by China after his performance for Singapore against Thailand. Chinese fans rushed to his restaurant, others sent him money. As he sat dejected on the Bishan surface looking forlornly out at the huge swathes of grass vacated by his team mates you could excuse him from thinking perhaps he might wanna open a new restaurant in Shanghai.
The Sailors were happy to occupy the empty spaces and, prompted by Maxime Lestienne and Shawal Anuar, they took full advantage. Even when Anuar went off early, they never eased up.
People like to look for pivotal moments in football, usually with the benefit of hindsight. Manchester United for example beating Crystal Palace in the FA Cup Final 1990 and setting Sir Alex Ferguson off on his generational trophy haul or a team meeting at Arsenal in 1997 after losing at home to Blackburn Rovers - they would go on to win the double.
Only the history books, or in the case of Singapore football where there is little in the way of literature, Wikipedia, will decide whether those 90 minutes in Bishan brought the curtain down on Albirex Niigata's hegemony or gave birth to Lion City Sailors as the premier force but for those of us jaded by one team's title monopoly, it does add motivation to reabsorb ourselves in the league!
