Those were the days

The below was my posting on a local football forum some years back. The topic of the thread was THOSE WERE THE DAYS..with reference to the Malaysia Cup football days where the National stadium used to be packed with 60,000 fans screaming their heart out for the Lions. Decide to keep it in my blog and spice it up with some video clips.

Just discover this thread. Wow...sure bring back those great memories.

I was glad to know many remembered the late Borhan Abu Samah. He was my fav Singapore player...his well-timed fearless tackles are always on my mind. 1 of the best moment I remember of him was during the 1989 SEA Games Final against Malaysia. Though he has scored an own goal earlier, Malaysia has a low fierce shot that was heading towards the Singapore goal...but Borhan dived in low on the right to clear the ball with his head (the goalpost just cms away)...A brave clearance. Became his fan since then. Always live in my memory as great Singapore defender.

Beside Borhan, there are some lesser known players that one may recall about those days. For example, we've a promising striker that is very good at shielding though he didn't make it big later on. He is D. Devaraj.

Prior to Steven Tan emergence as a supersub in later seasons, his supersub predecessor was Abdullah Noor, who can score quite a few goals...In fact, in 1991 SEA Games Semi-final against Indonesia, he has a good goal being disallowed.

Malaysia Cup days are also remembered for bad refereeing and foul play. Worst team to play has to be Kelantan..very dirty. Remember Singapore team has 8-9 players injured by them in one game at Kuantan back in 1989. In an earlier match at National Stadium, they also get involved in a mass brawl on the pitch that needed intervention from police.

Was also glad to have witness 2 of Singapore best ever players in Fandi and Sundram. Their telepathic understanding shown in some of the great games against Pahang and in a qualifier against Qatar in the 90s. Memorable.



Sundramoorthy magic on display on last match of the 93 semi-pro season. Singapore was in Division Two back then.



Sundram and Fandi combination against Pahang - The best strikeforce for Singapore National Team

Best match witness will be Singapore Vs Myanmar in the 93 semi-final. Damn exciting and when Steven Tan score the equaliser, can hear the whole HDB block rocks with relief. Myanmar team was good though...very pacy with great players. Witness the final vs Thailand, 4-3 scoreline with a young fresh Kiatisuk Senamuang scoring the winner with a backheader at National
Stadium. His nickname is Zico and he went on to become a Thai football legend. There's a video clip on this great SEA striker. My favorite Thai player was Vitoon, great thai midfield general of the 80s & 90s Thai team. He scored the winner against South Korea, which was Asian football powerhouse in a memorable 1-0 victory for Thailand.



Those were the days that I can be really enthusiatic about Singapore football and talk all day. Not now anymore.