Jakarta Casual
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Singapore's french Reunion
The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) is pleased to announce that the Singapore National Team will face the France National Under-21 Team in a friendly game.
Details of the friendly game are as follow :
Match : Singapore National Team vs France National Under-21 Team
Date/Date : 2nd June / Monday
Venue : Reunion Island
Kick-off : 9pm
Singapore National Team Head coach Bernd Stange expresses his delight in leading the team against a top European team, saying: “ I am absolutely thrilled for the boys to have this opportunity to play against one of the top Under-21 teams in the world. This is a great platform for us to bring in and test some of our younger players against top notch opposition and we have a committed group of players in this squad who are determined to prove their place in the National Team, even for a friendly game. The exposure and experience of playing against a top international team will be essential to their development and will add value to the team’s strength and I am sure our boys will give everything they have into this game. I am looking forward to an exciting game of brilliant football and regardless of the result, I know my players will have a lot to learn from it.”
SOURCE - FAS
COMMENT - wonder whether the hardcore Lions Al The Way will make the trip? To be fair, will anyone make the trip? I can't imagine there being many direct flights between Changi and that tint island in the middle of nowhere...a quick look at Skyscanner is showing a 52 hour trip cost about $4,000!
You would hope the Singapore players won't be doing that. I mean. think of poor old Aleksander Duric for a start. 52 hours squeezed on planes or stuck at boring old airports...
Would love to know the logistics behind this trip...you would hope someone out there is paying for it 'cos having such a trip mid season makes no sense! ( I know there is a mid season break from 24/5 to 4/6 but are the clubs happy about this?
Labels: France U21, Reunion Island, Singapore
Tuesday, March 04, 2014
Kean's 100% Start In Brunei
Former Blackburn Rovers boss has started life well in the oil rich kingdom of Brunei.
His DPMM lead the SLeague with six points from their first two games, making them the only unbeaten team alongside reigning champions Tampines Rovers.
With St Patrick's Day on the horizon, at least two of the team will be hoping for a weekend away from dry Brunei. Irishmen Joe Gamble and Roy O'Donovan both had spells with Hartlepool United, is there a wider contrast than Hartlepool and Singapore, will hopefully line up with their team mates at Jalan Besar Stadium against Home United a couple of days before the annual Guiness slug-fest and they will be hoping for a couple of days compassionate leave no doubt!
In fact, I saw O'Donovan just last year line up for Northampton Town against Torquay United at Sixfields. No pictures from that night...it was bloody freezing, snow had been swet from the field, I was still jet lagged and ill equipped for the conditions!
It was however the more familiar name of Rodrigo Antonio Tosi who secured Kean's first points in the SLeague with a 16th minute penalty against Albirex Niigata in the first game of the season.
Kean no doubt will rely heavily on the Brazilian now in his second spell with the club. Last season Tosi hit 10 goals in his 14 games while his first stint with the club back in 2005-2006 saw his score 25 times in 40 games according to Wiki and in the absence of any definitive Singapore football annual that must do.
There was quite an Anglo feel to DPMM's next game as they took on Warriors. Formerly known as SAFFC, they are coached by Alex Weaver and feature Kevin MacCann, who is Scottish and played previously for Hibs, Greenock Morton, Livingstone and Raith Rovers (places I could not find on a map!), Thomas Beattie and Singaporean international and more Singaporean than MRT and lah, Danie Bennett.
It was Tosi who gave DPMM the lead at home early in the second half while Rosmin Kamis sealed the points in injury time.
With a 100% record and two clean sheets, Kean has hit the ground running. Next up is Home United, always a tough nit to crack if somewhat inconsistent.
It would be interesting to know how the ex Blackburn gaffer is getting on in this part of the world, far from the madness that engulfed Rovers. Certainly, the pressure will be just a fraction of what he was used to in Lancashire but at least there it was out in the open...
His DPMM lead the SLeague with six points from their first two games, making them the only unbeaten team alongside reigning champions Tampines Rovers.
With St Patrick's Day on the horizon, at least two of the team will be hoping for a weekend away from dry Brunei. Irishmen Joe Gamble and Roy O'Donovan both had spells with Hartlepool United, is there a wider contrast than Hartlepool and Singapore, will hopefully line up with their team mates at Jalan Besar Stadium against Home United a couple of days before the annual Guiness slug-fest and they will be hoping for a couple of days compassionate leave no doubt!
In fact, I saw O'Donovan just last year line up for Northampton Town against Torquay United at Sixfields. No pictures from that night...it was bloody freezing, snow had been swet from the field, I was still jet lagged and ill equipped for the conditions!
It was however the more familiar name of Rodrigo Antonio Tosi who secured Kean's first points in the SLeague with a 16th minute penalty against Albirex Niigata in the first game of the season.
Kean no doubt will rely heavily on the Brazilian now in his second spell with the club. Last season Tosi hit 10 goals in his 14 games while his first stint with the club back in 2005-2006 saw his score 25 times in 40 games according to Wiki and in the absence of any definitive Singapore football annual that must do.
There was quite an Anglo feel to DPMM's next game as they took on Warriors. Formerly known as SAFFC, they are coached by Alex Weaver and feature Kevin MacCann, who is Scottish and played previously for Hibs, Greenock Morton, Livingstone and Raith Rovers (places I could not find on a map!), Thomas Beattie and Singaporean international and more Singaporean than MRT and lah, Danie Bennett.
It was Tosi who gave DPMM the lead at home early in the second half while Rosmin Kamis sealed the points in injury time.
With a 100% record and two clean sheets, Kean has hit the ground running. Next up is Home United, always a tough nit to crack if somewhat inconsistent.
It would be interesting to know how the ex Blackburn gaffer is getting on in this part of the world, far from the madness that engulfed Rovers. Certainly, the pressure will be just a fraction of what he was used to in Lancashire but at least there it was out in the open...
Labels: DPMM Brunei, Joe Gamble, Roy O'Donovan, Singapore, SLeague, Steve Kean
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Raddy's Burmese Days
Singapore — Former Singapore football head coach Radojko Avramovic has agreed terms with the Myanmar Football Federation (MFF) to take over the seat vacated by South Korean Park Sung Hwa last month.
Sources close to the MFF told TODAY that the 64-year-old Serb will start work on Feb 1.
Some 40 coaches had applied for the job, which became vacant following Park’s sacking in December when Myanmar failed to make the semi-finals of the South-east Asian (SEA) Games football competition.
Tasked with winning the gold medal, Myanmar lost their final group match 1-0 to Indonesia and were edged out on the “head-to-head” rule, which Park claimed he was unaware of.
Reportedly paid between US$50,000 (S$ 63,950) and $60,000 per month, 58-year-old Park was just two weeks away from the end of his two-year contract, during which he took charge of Myanmar’s senior and under-23 teams.
PN Sivaji, former Singapore and Home United head coach, thinks Avramovic has the experience and tactical nous to help Myanmar football.
“Raddy will have to be patient when coaching the Myanmar national players who are extremely passionate but may lack the fundamentals which were not taught properly when they were younger,” said Sivaji, whose coaching contract with Myanmar league side KBZ FC ended recently.
During his decade-long tenure as head coach for the Lions, Avramovic burnished his reputation the most successful Singapore football coach by guiding the team to three ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) titles (2004, 2007 and 2012).
He also took Singapore to the brink of qualifying for the 2011 Asian Cup finals, and the team made the third round of qualifiers for the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup.
It was after winning the third AFF title that Avramovic announced his decision to step down, although news floated about in early 2013 of the possibility that he could stay on with the Football Association of Singapore in a technical director role.
With family in Singapore — his only son, Ivan, works for a local bank and has children here — Avramovic is understood to favour taking up an assignment within the region, and has been linked to vacancies in Malaysia and the Philippines.
Avramovic’s first major assignment will be the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup in Maldives (May 19-30), where the winners will go to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in Australia.
UPDATE - Myanmar admit interest in Avramovic but deny he has been appointed. Story in Goal
UPDATE - Myanmar admit interest in Avramovic but deny he has been appointed. Story in Goal
Labels: Myanmar, Raddy Radjko Avramovic, Singapore
