Singapore in 2034 World Cup. Can make it or not?

[blackmondy]

Some of us won't be around anymore to find out....

 

[ODACHEK]

Can, build 10 more big stadiums now to host the game...

 

[Bad New Brown]

I would suggest that the FAS should hire a young local coach for the national coach position say budget salary SGD $4,000 a month.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Singapore football coach sacking: Limp Lions not solely Nishigaya’s fault​

Singapore head coach Takayuki Nishigaya (second from left) thanking travelling fans after their AFF Championship loss to Malaysia in January. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG

David Lee
Sports Correspondent

Jan 30, 2024

SINGAPORE – Takayuki Nishigaya’s stint as Singapore national football coach was doomed from the start.
The 50-year-old Japanese was sacked by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) on Jan 29, but he should not be the only one held responsible for the Lions’ largely poor run of results over the past two years.
In December 2021, his predecessor Tatsuma Yoshida quit the post less than 11 months into his second two-year contract, but it took the FAS four months to appoint a replacement.
Budget was a concern, but there were still candidates who had international experience and pedigree.
One of them was Stephen Constantine, who took India to the 2019 Asian Cup and the top 100 in the Fifa rankings, and after being snubbed by Singapore, led Pakistan to the second round of World Cup qualifiers for the first time.
While it seemed like the Englishman had the CV to deliver, the FAS passed up on the opportunity – though there was no guarantee he would have succeeded here.
But what it failed to do was to give the national team every chance of succeeding.

The Asian Cup qualifiers in June 2022 were one example, with a kind draw and a single round-robin tournament presenting the Lions with a great opportunity to qualify for the continental showpiece for the first time. With just one international football window in March 2022 to prepare, it was baffling that the FAS took such a long time to appoint Nishigaya on April 25, 2022.
It would not be until May 26, 2022 that he held his first training session, giving him little to no time to understand and bond with the players before they set off. They had just one friendly against Kuwait on June 1, 2022 before the Asian Cup qualifiers in Kyrgyzstan a week later.
They took the lead against the hosts before losing 2-1, lost 1-0 to Tajikistan and beat Myanmar 6-2. Imagine what could have been if the team had more time to work with their new coach.


There are other questions to ponder.
Despite mediocre results at club level, Nishigaya was hired on the recommendation of the Japan Football Association.
Did the FAS seriously consider other options? Did it do its due diligence to check on Nishigaya’s personality, temperament and ability to communicate? Or did it simply trust that lightning would strike twice and he would, like Yoshida, work out?
Every good international coach needs a first break, and there are plenty of cases of coaches who succeed overseas despite not speaking the country’s native language.
Some, like Vietnam’s former coach Park Hang-seo, have a strong team of assistants and a skilled translator who can bring the coach’s ideas and messages across well. The Lions just did not have that.

The FAS and Nishigaya are not the only parties responsible for his failing. What can they do if some players feel it is a good idea to attend a New Year’s party a few days before a crucial AFF Championship clash against Malaysia, which they lost 4-1?
But the coach has to take some of the blame – sources say that he is an introvert who made little effort to bond with his backroom staff and players.
Ultimately, the lack of synergy showed in the lack of identity in games, even if his record of eight victories, five draws and eight defeats is actually superior to Yoshida’s 6-4-10 report card.
Nishigaya was effectively a dead man walking after the Causeway derby humiliation and the rumour mill was rife with talk of his termination when The Straits Times reported that the search for a replacement had begun before the second round of World Cup qualifiers last November.
Albirex Niigata coach Kazuaki Yoshinaga and former Warriors boss Alex Weaver were in the running but did not get the job despite having won the Singapore Premier League title and their experience working in local football.
Japan national team and Olympic team assistant Tsutomu Ogura is believed to have agreed terms with the FAS and was recently in town for medical tests.

The local fraternity is hoping that the FAS, its management and the team will learn from this failure, as a coach on his own can only do so much.
An effective communicator with the ability to inspire the team to play above themselves and a proven track record are ideal qualities, but the Lions must also play ball.
The next national coach must be given resources to build his backroom, organise quality training camps and friendly matches to increase camaraderie and playing levels, as well as time for his philosophy to take root.
Clear targets and timelines must also be set. Forget the World Cup – the AFF Championship semi-finals will be a good start and qualification for the 2027 Asian Cup must be the main goal.
The FAS rarely sacks its foreign coaches and its decisiveness this time round, believing that “an early transition to a fresh successor would re-energise the team” must be matched by the right decisions moving forward.
Otherwise, we could be stuck in Groundhog Day and having this same discussion in two years’ time.

 

[red amoeba]

Change out those fuckers from FAS. Out in football people not PAP related stooges.

Develop football from grounds up. Make it a rewarding and sustainable career.

Stop fumbling and anyhow appoint a football coach. Promote from within. Groom future coaches.

Stop gap get Mourinho.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

FAS president Bernard Tan: All we ask for is a Singapore team that makes us proud​

(From left) FAS president Bernard Tan, national coach Tsutomu Ogura, and The Straits Times journalist Deepanraj Ganesan discuss Singapore football on The Straits Times’ podcast series Hard Tackle. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY

Deepanraj Ganesan

FEB 28, 2024


SINGAPORE – Tsutomu Ogura’s appointment as the Singapore national coach on Feb 1 saw the former Japan national team assistant become the Lions’ third consecutive Japanese tactician at the helm. At Ogura’s unveiling, Football Association of Singapore (FAS) president Bernard Tan denied an agenda behind hiring another Japanese coach.
On The Straits Times’ podcast series Hard Tackle, Tan speaks for the first time about the hiring process while Ogura tells sports reporter Deepanraj Ganesan about his observations and plans before his first game in charge on Mar 21 against China in a World Cup qualifier.
This is an excerpt from their discussion.

Q: When did the process to replace coach (Takayuki) Nishigaya start and what is this process like ?​

Tan: If you look at the history of our coaches in Singapore, very rarely do we actually terminate the services of a coach prior to the completion of the contract. I think you can trace back to many, many years, and usually we allow the coach to see through the contract.
The fact that we actually had terminated coach Nishigaya’s contract six months before the end of his term shows that this was something that was taken outside normal processes. Once the decision was taken that it was good to replace our existing coach early, then we had to start the process (to hire a new coach)

Q:Was there any point in the process where you thought about not appointing a Japanese coach just so that you can avoid this claim of bias from people?​

Tan: I must say, I’m actually quite surprised by the issue of being biassed. We did have two Japanese candidates, but we (also) had a Spanish person and two Englishmen that we seriously considered. In terms of the pedigree of coaches in Asia, it would not be surprising to you to know that the Japanese and the (South) Korean coaches are in high demand throughout Asia.
I think any fan in Singapore can look around the region and admit that the Japanese have got the ecosystem right, they have been on an upward trend and their team is ranked 18th in the world. There’s a lot to learn from the Japanese ecosystem.

And to me, it was natural that more of the candidates would come from Japan. But I didn’t have a desire to just avoid a Japanese coach. I think to do so would hamper the whole process. Was there a bias or a deal? No, the answer was no.

Q: You have the two matches against China coming up very soon. What is the plan before those matches?​

Ogura: At the moment, we have no friendly games but we will start centralised training in a small group. Because the overseas players will not be joining (initially) till the Fifa window, we will train with local (based) players for about four or five days.
First, I would like to share my concept, the Singapore national team concept with the coaching staff, and then the players. The players must believe in our football, then we will get confidence. This is very important. Belief is very important. It is not just about one or two players believing in it. Everyone, including all the coaches, has to believe in it and then we can improve.

Q: What is your message to fans ahead of the matches against China later this month? What would you say if you could speak to them directly?​

Tan: What is the expectation that the average Singapore fan has? It’s to see a team that has a style of play that makes us proud, to have players who are giving their all and are organised in a way that makes it very difficult for a superior team to beat us and gives us a chance to beat a superior team.
We know where we stand in football today. There’s still a long way to go. Anybody who thinks that in a click of our fingers, we appoint a coach and instantly a result will come out is fooling themselves. But what we expect from our boys in red is a performance that we all can be proud of.
And that’s the challenge I give to coach Ogura and his entire team. And I trust that he has the same philosophy in his heart. So, all I’ll ask for is a Singapore team that makes us all proud.

Q: Is it realistic to expect Singapore to get something from the matches against China?​

Ogura: In the AFC Asian Cup, everyone said Japan and (South) Korea are the best teams. Neither of them were in the final. This is football where we don’t know (what happens).
At [his former club Tokyo] Verdy, no one thought about us getting promoted. If we say that a draw is enough, we won’t get a draw. We must challenge ourselves. The aim must be correct. The target is always the same, it is always to win. I am looking forward to (the game) against China.