Sunday, November 28, 2010

AFF Suzuki Cup preview

Taken from nottscountyfc.co.uk

The official website of the AFF Suzuki Cup 2010-www.affsuzukicup.com-praised Radojko Avramovic by claiming that Singapore have a "fabulous record" in the competition under his coaching.

Singapore won 2 straight titles in 2004 and 2007 under Raddy. That does not equal to a fabulous record. In fact, I strongly believe that the progress of the national team can only be positive if Avramovic quits.

The Lions relied more on luck to win the two finals.

In 2004, Singapore barely scrapped through to the final when they played Myanmar in the semis. Raddy's team was losing 2:1 after 90 minutes of the 2nd leg. The aggregate was tied at 5:5 during then. Singapore plundered in 3 goals during extra time to enter the final.

Indonesia was not the toughest opponent among all the teams so the Lions weren't really in for a stern test. Singapore's toughest rivals would be Thailand and Malaysia in terms of technique and psychology respectively.

2007 was even luckier for the Lions. They didn't even do well in the group stage, two draws with Vietnam and Indonesia plus a 11-0 thrashing of Laos where Noh Alam Shah netted 7 goals.

The referees of both legs of Singapore's semi-final against Malaysia were from China and Hong Kong. I think it was a bit biased, they should have chosen someone from Middle East or something.

And again, Singapore barely scrapped through to the final because Khyril Muhymeen's shot was saved by Lionel Lewis in the penalty shoot-out.

The final against Thailand was even more epic. Singapore won a controversial penalty with 7 minutes left but the Thais walked off the pitch and wasted 15 minutes of everybody's time.

Luckily, Mustafic Fahrudin managed to convert the spot kick and gave Singapore a 2:1 lead on aggregate ahead of the second leg.

Singapore was absolutely no match for Thailand in the second leg. The Thais controlled the game and Khairul Amri's horoscope must have been in tip-top form for him to score the equalizer thus crowning Singapore winners 3:2 on aggregate.

Luck won't last forever and Singapore were eliminated in the semi-final when they played Vietnam two years ago. Raddy's tactics are also too predictable.

So, for Singapore football to move on, Radojko Avramovic has to move on as well.

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