Burnley visit to Singapore football

English Championship league side Burnley, which defeated Spurs 4-2 on the last day of last season visit Singapore this week. $6 match ticket is a big bargain to catch a former EPL Premier league side in action compared to the hefty sum that many pay to watch the likes of Liverpool, Man U,etc play holiday football. Bought the tickets yesterday and met a very helpful V Sundramoorthy @ Jalan Besar Stadium. Oh boy, he still looks in good shape. Legend, made my day.

Went to the game early today at 5pm because Alan, a hardcore fan of junior football wanted to catch the Singapore Youth Olympic team (U-15) against the NFA U-18 team. This is the curtain raiser and the YOG team was given a lesson by their senior counterpart with a 4-0 loss. They also have their Indian leftback sent off. He put in a very strong but fair sliding tackle but the kayu referee didn't see it that way and send him straight to the dressing room. The last goal by the NFA U-18 team was a beautiful volley. Lots of improvement beckons the YOG team if they want to succeed against strong teams in the YOG.

As the curtain raiser game concludes, the crowd begin to fill up the relatively small capacity Jalan Besar Stadium. Was puzzled why FAS doesn't want to prolong the National Stadium lifespan by making it a venue for YOG football games. Joachim highlight that it would be embarrasing that the 60,000 stadium can't be filled and would look like an white elephant if football matches are played there. Such is the local interests of the YOG games that the organizers might be worried about poor attendance & hence put the 6000 capacity Jalan Besar Stadium as the venue. Insurance plan or cosmetics @ work for face saving objective. On the crowd, I realize many fans were wearing Red, not Singapore jerseys but that of Manchester United. There's even a big group, all wearing Man U jerseys, singing Man U tunes loudly as they walk across the stands to their seats at the far end. The Red devils are not playing tonight but many Red devils fans are interested in this game, presumably because of a former Man U player playing for Burnley now, he is Chris Eagles. Many of the crowd around me wasn't that impressed with this group. One of the other group even use a Chelsea banner to wave back at the group. Colourful atmosphere but I'm not too impressed with the EPL elite obession because tonight it is about Singapore and Burnley, not your other EPL teams.

Wayne Rooney was sitting in front of us for the game.



A feminine Ronaldo was also at the stadium

The group of Manchester Utd supporters attracting attention by singing loudly Man U songs.

Response from the Chelsea Supporters towards the Man U group.

Now to the big game @ 7.30pm. I didn't know a lot about the Clarets. They were managed by Brian Laws, one of Brian Clough former rightback @ Nottingham Forest. Burnley came into this game with two consecutive 5-0 victories over S-league sides Home & Gombak Utd. Aside from Chris Eagles, the other player that I knew was Dean Marney, who was with Spurs several years back. He's an important player for Burnley.Both have been named in Burnley starting line-up. On Singapore lineup, Raddy put up a very young team with several players from the Singapore U-23 team. Good match exposure.

The Singapore Lions in warm up mode.

The visiting Burnley team



The 3 match officials doing their warmup

Singapore vs Burnley tonight @ Jalan Besar Stadium

Singapore started the game very well with Singaporean forward Khairul Amri being much the focal point in attack. Khairul did very well to threaten the Burnley defence in the opening exchange with his darting runs and crisp cutback, which in fact, set-up a goalscoring opportunity for the Singapore No.23. He put the ball into the net after a Khairul Amri sidepass but the effort was ruled out for offside. From the angle that we were seated, both Khairul and no.24 appeared to onside. Poor linesman decision but well played Khairul Amri. Sharil Ishak also looks good with his touches and penetrative passes. These two players are the key players if Singapore is to do well. Burnley too had their chances, with two clear almost one-one situations but Dean Marney placed his shot over the bar. Burnley didn't play the long-ball game and play it on the ground. They're fairly well organized but the lions were matching them stride for stride. Khairul Amri after a bright start, fizzle out. Shairul Ishak still show good touches for the whole of first half. The defenders including leftback Erwan Shah well too. The Singapore media rates highly of Singapore captain Haris Harun, who plays as a defensive midfielder. I observe this lad for some time now and still don't get why they rate him so high. I do not doubt his hard tackling enthusiasm but I do not see anything extra special about his football skills. He lost couple of balls in the first half by trying to do too much on his own where a simple pass would have work wonders. The players that impress me are the Singapore central defenders. The Singapore right midfielder Yasir Hanapi was impressive for me. He doesn't show too much respect for the big size English players and show good technique and ball sense. One of the bright spot for Singapore football if it is solely based on this game performance. Our foreign talent Shi Jiayi played as a rightback in this game and did ok. It ended 0-0 at the break.

The Singapore crowd

2nd half resumes and Raddy made an expected change. Khairul Amri who has drifted out of the game in the latter stages of the first half, make way for Agu Casmir. Go go Agu! I think he's the team most dangerous striker due to his experience. Sharil Jantan the Singapore goalie also came onboard in the 2nd half. Burnley started to attack more in the 2nd half and got a freekick outside the box. In came Chris Eagles and he scored. For me, I feel Sharil Jantan could have done a bit better covering the angle. Nevertheless, it was 1-0 to Burnley. Singapore brought on a few other players which include Farul Nawaz and Joachim cheered very loud for him. I didn't agree because I observed him for a while, he doesn't really look one that could change the game for Singapore. Ordinary is the word. He went on to miss 2 clear chances in the later stage, one of which is a one-one with the Burnley keeper. He fluffed it. The crowd was also not happy with the referee Abdul Malek performance and chants of referee kayu could be heard throughout the game. I think the referee pay a bit too much respect to the Europeans. Some of the cheeky nudges by the Englishmen went un-noticed while the Singaporeans get penalised for the slightest of body contact. Final score: Singapore Selection 0 Burnley 1.

Chris Eagle freekick

I think it was a positive team performance by Singapore team today especially in the first half. The players that caught my eyes are No. 4 (Yasif Hanapi) and No. 2 central defender (not sure if he call Yunos). The Singapore jersey No.2 central defender played extremely well and cut out many threats from the Burnley forwards. It is to Singapore advantage that Burnley did not choose to play the long ball game to their tall players and S'pore No.2 did well to contain the threats. Shahril Ishak though having a forgettable 2nd half performance, is definitely a key player for Singapore as he possess creative qualities. Both him and Khairul are important players for the current Singapore team. If any goalscoring chances is to come, it is likely to be through these two fellows. In summary, a good competitive match and I'm glad to see a good Singapore performance.

FIS Asian Challenge Cup Final Score