I am one of those critics. Not having watched Malaysian football recently, I can hardly comment justifiably on the quality of the teams in the competition, but I sincerely doubt the supporters of this experiment, Hazrul himself of course included, have watched enough Malaysian football to know it is worth our time to compete there. I think, on the other hand, we are suffering from “the Singapore Malaysia Cup Overconnect Syndrome”. Let me explain.

I am also Singaporean, and I have lived through the tail end of the Malaysia Cup days. I want to see my team succeed, of course, by which I mean any Singaporeans competing anywhere, but I object to this entire experiment because of the mind-blowing amount of effort put into publicity which was sorely missing from Singapore football in the past 15 years or so. It’s a tacit admission that Singapore football is only at home when it is competing against Malaysian club sides.

On the basis of history and improved match quality, Hazrul argues that a return to Malaysian competitions – especially in the form of a mutual agreement like the one here – can only bode well for Singapore football and that the arrogance involved in constructing a professional league led to a poorly-conceived effort.

Singapore and Malaysia, he argues, shared a colonial history and as one of the Straits Settlements we were on par with the other states of then-Malaya. Returning to the oldest football tournament in Asia, the Malaysia Cup, Hazrul claims, makes sense because it was a bond and a rivalry that we shared with other Malaysian states. I quote: “The Malaysia Cup was conceived during a time when Singapore was never seen as another country, and our opponents were a state of the Malayan peninsula, who share the same struggles of colonialism as us.” While it is an undeniable historical fact that when Singapore used to be one of the territories under British colonial rule, I would like to point out that the Malaysia Cup and Malaysia League made sense then, because our state FA, if you can call it then, was on par with other state FAs in organising a team for these competitions. But not now.

Now, as the Football Association of an independent Singapore, surely the national FA should have other aims with higher priority than to return to a competition against other state teams, such as the nurturing of its own professional footballers. Other than youth development schemes, and helping the successful youth footballers make the transition to the national team level, neither of which has been stunningly successful, but will not be the subject here, I believe maintaining our own league would allow Singaporeans more exposure to what professional football is like, since it would showcase dozens of squads of professional Singaporean footballers to the public and allow them to follow the clubs’ successes and failures, than focusing all the attention on one solitary squad of professional footballers representing Singapore. I contend that building and maintaining a professional league in such a small nation is not a mark of arrogance but a bold step made in the direction of footballing independence.

“One must understand,” Hazrul points out, “that Malaysian state football associations are not clubs.” Fair point, since they do, as he continues, “administer football at the state level, many times bigger than the size of Singapore.” It would be impossible to disagree with that, since they do manage larger populations than Singapore’s. But why should we rehash this population fallacy? Does Jamaica get outperformed by the US in track and field? Does the Netherlands crumble in the face of mighty India at the football World Cup because of sheer population numbers? Managing a bigger group of people just means you have responsibility on a larger scale, but it does not put you at the “same status as the Football Association of Singapore” because you’re comparing a state FA with a national FA. This is absurd. I wager Hazrul would not claim that the Football Association of Malaysia “has the same status” as the FA in Kelantan, for instance, since clearly one is in charge of football development on the state level and the other is responsible nationwide. If one agrees that the FAM is one step up from a state FA, it would be impossible to state (sorry.) that the FAS is on par with the FAM unless you disagree with the zeroth law of thermodynamics. FAS = FAM and FAS = Kelantan FA but FAM > Kelantan FA?

And hang on a moment. If the state FAs are not on the same level as clubs, why are they in a competition against club sides like PKNS, Felda United, Johor FC and T-Team? And what is Johor FC doing one division above Johor FA, or Pahang FA and Perlis FA, who have again club opponents such as Pos Malaysia FC and USM FC? Let me suggest something that might clear up some confusion. While FAs of different levels have to oversee football competitions and development on their respective terms, the teams that they are sending to these competitions are club teams on par with privately-run clubs. This makes T-Team competing against Terengganu FA a local club derby, not a job interview for footballers in the clubs trying to make it to the prestigious FA sides.

“To imply that a country, the size of Singapore should not play in a league against teams in a state, many times our size would be arrogant and ignorant of the long history Singapore has had in the Malaysian competitions,” writes Hazrul. I could not disagree more. The Malaysians have moved on, and brought top club teams into their league formerly reserved for FA-representative sides. Now clubs and state FAs compete on the same level, subordinate to the national team, and Hazrul wants us to accept that we return to that status? This would be grounds enough to suggest that Singapore has not moved on, and Malaysia is merely exploiting our nostalgia to improve themselves.

He even goes on to point out that “This is why we’ve maintained friendly, competitive ties…” and cites competitions like the Sultan of Selangor Cup and the Royal Malay Cup as proof. So it is not enough, to him, to compete in commemorative events once a year, and Singapore should return to participating full-time in Malaysian competitions? I don’t see how staying out of the Malaysian Super League would be a sign of arrogance and ignorance of history on our part.

I myself miss the days of the “nostalgic, historical tournament (his words)” I grew up watching. As I recall the exploits of Singapore’s chosen XI, which included a Czech, a South Korean, an Englishman, an Australian at various times, I remember also the masses which packed Kallang Stadium to watch Fandi, Malek, Steven and Tong Hai don Singapore colours and represent our hopes and dreams against the “evil visitors from up North (mine)”. But those days are over, and we have moved on from a “semi-professional Premier League” and “kampong football” to our very own professional S.League, young as it is. I don’t believe that spending more time, money and effort on the S.League instead of embarking on this experiment would be “akin to denying Singapore’s deep roots and history with Malaysia” as Hazrul suggests.

Of course, he points out, the experiment is a bilateral one which would benefit both countries, since the Harimau Muda – the Malaysian youth team – would be competing in the “S-League” and is sure to pull in interested fans from across the Causeway. He finds it puzzling that critics claim the local league is being ignored when the FAS has increased the number of teams playing in the “S-League” and “included two neighbouring teams which are proven quality”. On the other hand, I don’t find it puzzling at all.

Compare the amount of effort put in by the FAS to promote 4 seasons of Malaysian football, the clamouring of the media to cover this initiative and the amount of column space and public attention the LionsXII have received even before the official kickoff of the first season today – thanks to @LigaSingapura I know they are currently drawing 1-1 with Kelantan FA – with the amount of attention the entire S.League has received in the past 4 seasons in all media, online or otherwise. If you search hard enough and are generous enough, you might even find that both have received the same amount of attention over the past 4 years. Except one is a 8-12 team competition that has been around since 1996 and was ranked among the top 10 in Asia at some point during the last 4 seasons and the other is a single team fulfilling part of the MOU that was signed between two FAs in July 2011. Is the criticism that the local league is being ignored justified now, Hazrul? Also, the fact that the rebranding from “S-League” to “S.League” has gone either unnoticed or unacknowledged by Hazrul is a telling sign that clearly, not enough attention is being paid to the local league.

In terms of quality, Hazrul contends that the Singapore team was kept together for many seasons and played high-impact matches regularly. “This was what gave the Singapore team match fitness when it participated in international tournaments.”

Yet if you look at the major achievements in Singapore football on the international stage, all that time spent playing the high-impact as a cohesive unit didn’t bring any regional success. The best we did at the SEA Games was silver in 1983, 1985 and 1989, with Fandi playing a key role in the team’s success. Yet during those years, Fandi wasn’t playing with the Singapore FA side in the Malaysian tournaments – he was off playing against the likes of Inter with FC Groningen in the UEFA Cup, then for Kuala Lumpur FA against Singapore FA from 1986 to 1989. Our best national player was overseas, but there was enough cohesion to bring us to 2nd place in a regional competition. Our national team earned bronze medals in 1993, when our FA team was trying to get promotion back to Division One of the FAM’s then semi-professional league, and in 1995 after we were thrown out of the Malaysia League and Cup but the FAS decided to field the national team in the now-defunct FAS Premier League for match practice. So the match-fitness argument does hold water, but our performances on the international stage have been largely independent from our form in Malaysian competitions.

Also, our three Tiger Cup / AFF Suzuki Cup triumphs in 1998, 2004 and 2007 were won with the S.League in place, and players – naturalised or otherwise – played against one another in the domestic league until it was time to prepare for the tournaments. Clearly, while playing as a team together in a league works, it has not been even correlated with our international performances, let alone shown to be a cause for success on the global stage.

So what will the return to the Malaysian competitions of the LionsXII, featuring many players from the Courts Young Lions, some taken from their parent clubs “on loan” for the SEA Games last year and never returned, do for the national team? It can’t be proven that they will be a contributing factor to our success, but they have caused some disruption to the club sides in the S.League.

The clubs have not all gone belly-up, however, because they have foreign imports and an abundance of professional local-born talent like K. Vikraman for Balestier Khalsa, Shamil Sharif and Patrick Paran for Tanjong Pagar United, Shukor Zailan and Ahmad Latiff for Tampines Rovers, Erwan Gunawan and Mustaqim Manzur for SAFFC, Sobrie Mazelan for Hougang United, Firdaus Idros for Home United, and the list goes on.

It is these clubs that continue to feed players to the national team, these clubs that continue to participate in top-level regional competitions like the AFC Cup, and these clubs that will be the future of Singapore football. The Malaysians bring the pedigreed Harimau Muda A, core of their AFF Cup-winning team, over to compete in an S.League which has no relegation, hoping to give their young talent more exposure and more match training to keep them competitive. Smart move.

What do we do? We invent the LionsXII to bring over into an established professional league, ask for a no-relegation clause and a sizably larger squad to overcome the difficulties presented to us by National Service – which, by the way, also plagued the Singapore national team’s World Cup campaign – to remain competitive against state FA teams and club sides, and the Malaysian FA agrees. Fair deal? What convinced them to accept so many concessions against their own club/state sides? I leave the question open.

While I continue to support the Singaporeans in our latest adventure, I cannot help but wonder if this return to Malaysian football, rather than the formation of the S.League, is the poorly-conceived decision Hazrul Azhar Jamari should be talking about, instead of trying to suggest that said return would bring about Singapore’s return to the World Cup by creating a “mutually beneficial bilateral relationship.”

Here’s my response on that thread, which through some late night e-diarrhoea became a full blog post’s worth of content…

‎@Muhd Khalis Rifhan you’re right… the passion is good news for Singapore football. Thanks for sticking with the S.League and going down for the LionsXII too.

But I feel LATW’s message is justified, even though I’m not part of them. I have to watch our matches via online streaming, and I think the LATW crew are doing a great job keeping the noise levels up in stadiums. Before they got together it was the usual songs and chants, and I tell you, for the past few years even in the Tiger Cup it was always the same few people singing, even the ‘die hard fans’ also a bit like punctured tire… sounded like 1 cheerleader.

@Rohaizat Talib: it’s good that you remember the Malaysia Cup days… I also miss paying $2 for a cup of coke behind the corner flag. But those days are gone. As are the fans from that era. I’ve seen it, painful to watch empty Kallang stands: friendlies against UAE, North Korea, draws in 2007 against Laos and Vietnam in the Tiger Cup group stages, but full house in ‘prestige’ friendlies like Liverpool, Brazil or Australia. And more cheering for Harry Kewell than Rezal Hassan in our very own Kallang Stadium. Why?

Sure, there was support against Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, but only during the knockout stages. Are our Lions only worth supporting when losing will knock them out of a tournament? Or have we grown so complacent that we expect to be in the knockout stages all the time, so we don’t have to waste time with the group matches?

Maybe the inclusion of foreign-born Singaporeans means we couldn’t identify as closely with the national team, and you might have a point there. But Agu, Itimi and Duric – even Egmar – aren’t to blame for playing in Singapore shirts. It’s FAS who hired them there (correct me if I’m wrong.) so their decision to turn up at all means they want, for at least a while, to be part of Singapore’s football destiny. Besides, we never really complained about Jang Jung, Alistair Edwards, Michael Vana, Abbas Saad turning up in red for Singapore in the 90s right?

Even in the recent World Cup Qualifiers we couldn’t always fill the Jalan Besar Stadium. How to talk about the Kallang days? One can’t knock the LATW crew for bringing life back to the stands, and singing at full volume even when we were down 4-0 and playing like crap against China. They are there through thick and thin, which is what football fans should do, regardless of whether they are imitating some songs from BPL clubs or imitating songs from S.League clubs.

If they are to be faulted, it may be for being a little too zealous in keeping the LionsXII separate from the national team, but at least they are there for the real Lions. I would urge the LATW crew to turn up for the LionsXII as well as the National Team… I know at least one of them is going to, just not in his guise as ‘LATWer’. Right Mervin UtdforUtd Tan? So it’s not like they have no semangat, it’s just that they recognise LionsXII for what it is – a club side. Of which the S.League has 10, not counting Etoile, Albirex, DPMM and Harimau Muda.

Back in the M-League days we didn’t have our own S.League to support, the Premier League was well-established but there was no competition with the Lions who played in FAM competitions back then because the Lions united the nation. This return to the MSL will probably have the same uniting effect, and the media is putting its whole weight behind this venture, but does that mean the S.League is to be relegated back to Premier League status? What is to become of the S.League that brought us to AFC competitions and was (for better or worse) one of the top 10 leagues in Asia for a while?

In the midst of all this hoopla over our “long-awaited” return to an FAM competition, let’s not forget that we have spent time and money trying to get our own professional competition up and running. And it’s S.League teams that brought the likes of Mohun Bagan, Arbil FC, Henan Jianye, Shanghai Shenhua and Suwon Samsung to our shores, so they deserve their fair share of credit, I think.

Sure, @Bobby Cheong brings up a good point that the older generation will be brought back to the stands, but my question to you – my own father included – is why did you guys leave the S.League behind? Standard not good enough? Can’t be right, our Lions frankly aren’t that much better. It’s never been about standard.

Basil Yeo while you do have a point, it’s kind of unfortunate that you chose to make it with a Milan jersey on in your profile pic. I’m not saying you left local football in the lurch or that it’s illegal to support overseas teams but it just seems a bit self-contradictory to call out the glory-hunters right?

I’m hoping the LionsXII do well in the MSL, but not at the expense of the S.League – already, captain Shahril Ishak isn’t setting a good example. Why? He mentioned in 2010 after his last match at Tampines Stadium that if he were to return to Singapore football (did he say S.League? I need to check) his first choice would be to return to Home United. Instead he has gone to the MSL for reasons only he knows and I shall not speculate here.

I will be happy if some LionsXII players could get signed by S.League clubs instead of transfers being only one way. Unfortunately I don’t think that would be likely, though I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

I still think this Malaysian experiment should be kept short-term and while I do not wish for it to fail, I would like the S.League to benefit eventually from the LionsXII as well, because a home-grown professional league is, I feel, the long-term answer to improving local football.

Didn’t the likes of Quah Kim Song and Fandi Ahmad (sorry defenders, but strikers are more glamourous) play in local sides before they were picked for the national team? Wouldn’t putting more effort in developing local clubs give better chances of finding another star of that calibre than fielding a club team in another country’s competition?

This is why I think LATW has a point, and shouldn’t be disregarded or belittled. They are reminding us who we should be behind. Singapore.

Because if we don’t support Singapore, which other country will?

Below is the reproduction of my Facebook comment in reply to the article.

If there is a faction who considers this move does little more than benefit Malaysian football, count me in. I’m aware of the constant complaints of Singaporeans that the “Malaysia Cup days” had much more emotion and impact, I was there towards the end, but I don’t consider going BACK to a similar setup as moving FORWARD for Singapore football. If anything, it’s more beneficial to Malaysia.

The Harimau Muda, already composed of players who have international experience at age-group level, spent 8 months in Slovakia at a training camp after winning the Malaysian Premier League in 2009. They will get more overseas exposure this time closer to home in an S.League that once counted itself among the top ten in Asia, against teams like Tampines Rovers and SAFFC who have international experience at club level.

Our LionsXII, a team cobbled together from the ruins of the Young Lions, will be going up north to compete in the Malaysian Super League – won by 6 different teams since its inception in 2004. In theory, this looks like a more competitive league, and it probably is, but removing the risk of relegation reduces the MSL to a longer version of the S.League. I won’t say anything about the calibre of the opposition because I haven’t been watching, so I can’t judge.

One benefit I can see for LionsXII? They will have to face larger crowds and travel farther on away days, which will probably help build character on the players’ part. But what message are we sending them? “It’s OK to lose, you can avoid the consequences.” How much softer do Singaporeans need to be? FAM Vice-President Hamidin says the LionsXII have enough problems with National Service and World Cup qualifiers, so they should have a bigger squad and no relegation – did this help them in the S.League? Not very much. I doubt it will help them in the MSL.

The Harimau Muda have gained a lot from the FAM’s willingness to chop and change to accommodate their footballing development – no foreigners, yes foreigners, splitting into two, training in Slovakia, playing in the Premier League, playing in the U-19 tournaments in China – but what has the FAS done for our Young Lions?

Bring foreign-born players in for the Young Lions in 2010. Send them to SEA Games in 2011 with a different coach from the one who’s coached them all season in the S.League, albeit including the original coach as one of the ‘team officials’. Who knows what role he played then?

It is just my speculation, but maybe the reason why Stuart Ramalingam, MSL chief executive, wants Singapore to be a “permanent fixture” is the same as why “60 per cent” of the old energy would be enough for FAM Vice-President Hamidin. Gate receipts. Maybe that’s why the other Malaysian teams can swallow the fact that Singapore’s LionsXII will be exempt from relegation. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time this was an issue.

Currently, Singapore sits at the bottom of the table with 1 goal scored and 7 conceded. Their next opponents, Jordan, are at the other end with a 100% record, having scored 7 and conceded only 1.

Although Singapore opened their third stage campaign with a 2-1 defeat in Kunming against China, the Lions had all to play for. Buoyed by the anger at poor refereeing decisions and the goal notched in a hostile atmosphere, Singapore should have capitalised on strong home support to pick up points in Jalan Besar.

Perhaps tellingly, local sports website Redsports’ reports on the matches had only one comment. It was as if the Singaporean fans had been trained to take defeat for granted, an attitude that at least the players on the pitch did not reflect with their gritty displays at home.

The story of the second match, though, was similar: Singapore starting promisingly but conceding goals due to lapses in concentration. There was even controversy over penalty calls, just as it had been in China. The artificial pitch, which Iraq coach Zico had complained about, helped Iraq to their second goal.

A 2-0 friendly win at home against the Philippines between fixtures did little to boost confidence, especially when the vocal minority of Pinoy fans took over the Jalan Besar Stadium and Singapore effectively lost some of its home advantage.

At least the return of Hariss Harun from national service (another topic for another time) to bolster the midfield and the defensive strength of Safuwan Baharudin, who almost single-handedly kept the scoreline respectable against Iraq (thanks Yizhe from Redsports), gave the Lions something to look forward to.

Iraq coach Zico pointed out that Singapore should not afford their opponents too much space in midfield, advice which the Lions took to heart, but while the Lions took the game to their visitors, their finishing was again just not up to par, and giving the Jordanians too much space at the crucial moments allowed them to fly home with a flattering 3-0 win. (Sure, Shahril Ishak was unjustly denied a consolation goal on 77 minutes, but blaming the officials should not become the national sport.)

Singapore reversing the result on Thursday to beat Jordan 3-0 would be too much to hope for. More realistic would be a narrow hard-fought victory to bring the glimmer of hope back into the Singaporean fans’ and footballers’ eyes, especially since the Lions have been all but written off at this stage.

If Iraq take three points against China they will almost certainly have qualified, but will also keep the door open for a Singapore miracle.

However, the onus is on the Lions to play their hearts out for a result in Amman. They should do better without the crushing masses of apathy at home, something which the LATWcrew are working very hard to change.

We have met all these teams before, and because of our past results, some are already bubbling with excitement. @LigaSingapura is positive we can make it through, while @Ledgeddie is considering the possibilities, but has a nervous eye on some past events. @SazaliAbdulAziz is somewhat unsure, but thinks the draw looks good. I myself would love to see Singapore progress from this round, but as always I prefer to take things one step at a time.

Let’s look a bit more closely at these teams, starting with the Singaporeans’ favourite topic: rankings. In the July 2011 FIFA World Rankings, China is 73rd, Jordan 91st, Iraq 108th and we are 131st. Find out how the rankings work on Wikipedia. In the Elo ratings adapted for football, China sits in 47th place, Iraq 71st, Jordan 86th and Singapore 114th. (Would you believe the Elo ratings site has exceeded its traffic limit? Wow.) To find out the differences in ranking systems, read the Wikipedia explanation and compare for yourself.

Next stop: China. We travel there first on 2 September. Historically, our best result against them was a 2-1 win in the King’s Cup of 1982 in Thailand. Around this time, we also beat them twice 1-0, during the 1980 Olympics Qualifiers and the 1983 Merlion Cup. Our biggest defeat against them came in the 1990 Asian Cup hosted in Beijing, when we lost 5-1.

More recently, however, games have been tight and low-scoring affairs, with a 1-0 home win for China in August 2006 followed by a 0-0 draw at Kallang 3 weeks later during the AFC 2007 Asian Cup qualifiers. (Sidebar: check out some funny stats here.) A National Day Challenge invitational ended 1-1.

China have at least represented Asia at the World Cup before, though a 0-9 record and group stage elimination is certainly something they want to improve upon.

Even if you don’t look at the numbers, it is an interesting fixture: with Singapore’s recent good form heavily dependent on its naturalised players, among them Qiu Li and Shi Jiayi who were born in China, it could be seen as a test of loyalty not just for the players but for their fans. Personally, I think they have integrated well into Singapore football and Singaporean life, but they will always be asked such questions, and this is the chance for them to prove their doubters wrong.

I’ll follow up with Jordan and Iraq soon, but now it’s bedtime, so I’ll leave you with @LigaSingapura’s opinions: if we perform well at home and keep the defence solid when we’re travelling, we stand a good chance of going through to the next round.

Fatigue and jetlag will play a role though, as there will be 2 pairs of matches played within 1 week of each other. But then again, every team will be facing the same problem, so that should be no excuse.

In about 7 hours, the preliminary draw will take place in Rio de Janeiro to decide who our opponents will be in the group stage which begins in September 2011 and lasts till February 2012. All of the top 20 Asian teams in this round were also in the top 20 for the 2010 qualifiers, with the exception of Indonesia who replaced Turkmenistan by knocking them out 5-4 on aggregate. Also to be decided at the draw are the UEFA Qualifying Groups, always of interest to the average Singapore football fan weaned on a diet of English Premier League and moving on to the likes of Serie A, La Liga and the Bundesliga.

53 UEFA members will be vying for 13 spots in Brazil, and they will be divided into 9 groups. Group winners qualify automatically and the eight best runners-up will be drawn into play-offs to decide the last 4 spots.

What’s perhaps unknown to the casual Singaporean fan is the scale of the competition. In a region as anonymous for its football as North and Central America, where it is – probably rightly – assumed that the United States and Mexico are the only powerhouses and there isn’t much else to look out for, there are actually 35 countries competing for up to 4 spots in Brazil. Some might remember Jamaica’s appearance in 1998, Costa Rica in 2002, Trinidad and Tobago in 2006, and most recently Honduras in 2010. Perhaps the qualifying route there is easier… but it certainly does raise a few questions about our own assumptions regarding the Foreign Talent Scheme, doesn’t it?

All this and more will be decided at the draw in Rio de Janeiro, near the legendary Copacabana beach… preparing for a great festival of football ahead. Assuming those Mayans were wrong about 2012, of course.

Despite some questionable actions by the FAS, there can be no question about the buzz generated for the match. With the likes of Kunalan Subramaniam, Safee Sali and Muslim Ahmad in the Tigers squad, the reigning champions of ASEAN football will want a decent result for the second leg back at Bukit Jalil on July 28th.

But Singapore, three-time champions of the region in their own right, will not lie down and let the Tigers roll over them. It’s going to be a catfight of epic proportions!

GO LIONS GO!

• Increase competitive matches between the two countries
• Competition between representatives of the respective leagues
• Malaysian presence in the S.League, League Cup and Singapore Cup (2012-2015)
• Singapore presence in the Malaysian Super League, FA Cup and Malaysia Cup (2012-2015)

This move was made in the hope that “fans and players alike” in both nations will be able to witness “exciting and pulsating football in the respective domestic leagues spiced up by the traditional historic rivalry” and both countries will benefit from the increase in international matches.

The stadiums may have some people in them, but the loudest noises for me are the sounds of rustling betting slips on 80 minutes and the groans or curses when a 3-0 scoreline becomes 4-0 at the expense of a poor punter’s $500 bet.

But is putting a Singapore U-23 team into the Malaysian competitions, regardless of the “special romance” between Singapore and Malaysia football as FAS President Zainudin Nordin declared, the best way to rekindle the spark and make Singapore football interesting again?

We saw last year at our very own Youth Olympic Games that pitting a national team, no matter the age, against international opposition would serve well to unite the nation. A fact that was not lost on the organisers of this year’s Lion City Cup.

Packed as it may have been, I did note that the de facto national stadium’s capacity (Jalan Besar Stadium) was not comparable to the one we used to have at Kallang, and since the Sports Hub will not be ready till 2014, we will probably be hosting most of these “Causeway derbies” in front of less than 6,000 fans. If we really do manage to pack the stadium consistently for these games – we’ll soon find out because there will be an all-important World Cup Qualifier to be played at Jalan Besar on July 23 – will it suffice to maintain the interest of the typical Singapore fair-weather fan? This will be hard to imagine.

But let’s suppose it does. Thousands of fans fill Jalan Besar for Singapore U-23 vs Perak, the atmosphere is electric and Singapore does excellently. The old magic of Singapore vs Malaysia draws the crowds and keeps the journalists tapping away at their keyboards through the night. What then happens to the S.League?

Yes, the S.League. Singapore’s professional football league, all of 16 years old, with excellent rivalries like Tampines Rovers vs Geylang United (“the Eastern derby”) and Home United vs SAFFC (“the Uniform derby”) waiting to take their places in the Singapore football history books, which has seen attendances dwindle for one reason after another in recent years, will be shunted aside. If the fans can check out the “Lions” in action at a packed Jalan Besar against Selangor FA, why should they buy tickets to Gombak United vs Tanjong Pagar United with 900 spectators?

Will the “Lions”, in their bid to defend national pride, require the services of the likes of Andrew Tan, Delwinder Singh, Shamil Sharif, Zulfadli Zainal Abidin, Yasir Hanapi away from their clubs? This looks likely, as the Courts Young Lions have already taken some young footballers on loan from other S.League clubs in the interest of giving the potential SEA Games squad more match practice together.

What are club officials to do then? If they spend precious funds developing youth players who may wind up being taken away a lá Ruzaini Zainal and Shahdan Sulaiman, should they continue to bother thinking long-term or strengthen their team with foreign imports like Leonardo Costa, Graham Tatters and Kim Dae Eui (who have all been released)? That would miss the point of setting up a professional league to serve as a breeding ground for local talent, which would truly be a step backward for us.

Yet this could be a little bit of a paranoid alarmist view. It is, after all, an exchange – the Harimau Muda A also have to come over and face our clubs – and like the Young Tigers, our young Lions squad will be given a tough mental test in front of unfriendly foreign crowds which should help build character. I enjoyed (and watched) the Young Lions during their Malaysia Cup run in 2006, and I think it will be interesting to repeat that experiment.

And organising competitions between the S.League and M.League or Malaysia Cup and Singapore Cup champions… well, it sounds like an intriguing idea. We’ll get to prove on a regular basis which league is stronger, and there will be bragging rights to be fought for. Something like the Sultan of Selangor’s Cup, only with focus given to the clubs instead of an “S.League Selection”. Let’s give it time to grow instead of jumping the gun with negativity.

The S.League is currently going through a mini-renaissance with exciting football from the likes of Albirex Niigata (S), Etoile FC, Tampines Rovers, Home United and SAFFC, and the renaming of Sengkang Punggol into Hougang United seems to given the Cheetahs a boost into mid-table. More fans are slowly coming back to the stands, and the likes of the Hougang Hools are redefining what it means to be an S.League fan. (So they copy English cheers instead of cheers from other S.League clubs… but at least it’s something new no? Seriously, their energy and respect is worthy of emulation, if not their language.)

Singapore football may be taking a slightly longer route, but it’s definitely on the way up… let’s see what comes of this plan in its first season next year. Keep track of the buzz surrounding Singapore football and the S.League

It was 1995 World Cup winners Norway that asked the questions in the opening minutes, making dangerous runs down the left flank as Brazil struggled to find their footing in the rain. Trine Bjerke Rønning and Madeleine Giske came close to giving Norway the lead in the first quarter of an hour.

Marta did show up once on each flank for Brazil, but Norway’s defence managed to keep her away from Fabiana’s passes. The Brazilian number 10′s pace and strength were warning signs that the Norwegians should have heeded, but as they had Brazil pressed into their own half, there was not much cause for concern.

The Brazilian 3-woman backline relied a lot on the midfielders returning to help out when things got sticky, but Aline almost made it worse when she headed the ball into the path of Giske in the 18th minute. Thankfully for goalkeeper Andréia, the shot was tame and easy to catch.

Daiane clattered into Emilie Haavi just inside the Brazilian half a minute later and received a yellow card for the challenge. The resulting free kick was sent directly towards the Brazilian goal, but again Andréia got behind the effort and made a clean catch. She sent the ball downfield and found Cristiane, who sauntered past the Norwegian defence but sent her effort right at Ingrid Hjelmseth in goal.

22 minutes were on the clock when again the Brazilians swept forward on the break. This time Fabiana made the mistake in defence, but Beatriz managed to scramble a clearance down Brazil’s right flank. Having committed most of their players forward on that side, Norway could not muster enough to stop Marta from getting to the ball.

The No. 10 shrugged aside a challenge from Nora Holstad Berge, fished the ball out from beneath Maren Mjelde’s despairing challenge and tucked it below a diving Hjelmseth to give Brazil a lead against the run of play. And that’s not something one hears often. Just like the boos that met Marta’s goal after the controversial way she overcame Berge.

Once Brazil had got the upper hand, their confidence seemed to return. The Canaries held the ball going forward, passing it from left to right, wading through a sea of red almost at will – add your own biblical reference here if you like – and kept the Norwegians under constant pressure. In the 31st minute, Ester slipped, allowing Giske through, but her shot was blocked by the Brazilian wall of yellow and Norway were denied an equaliser.

A few minutes later, Marta played a corner into the path of Cristiane, but a poor first touch allowed Norway to breathe a sigh of relief. The Norwegians seemed to take Marta more seriously at last, with three players closing her down on 37 minutes as she got the ball just outside the penalty area.

Leni Larsen Kaurin and Rønning then combined to put Giske in a promising position, but Brazil managed to scramble it away. Rønning then switched flanks to the right, but her cross was again dealt with by the Brazilians, if only just. Formiga took down Ingvild Stensland just before half-time, and the free kick dropped into the Brazilian penalty area caused much consternation. Giske popped up near the bye-line to whip in a cross, but Andréia parried it away, getting injured in the process.

The final action of the half saw a defensive error from Norway almost putting them further behind, as Guro Knutsen Mienna’s backpass allowed Marta to sprint through on goal. Hjelmseth, who’d palmed a long-distance effort from Rosana over the crossbar a few minutes earlier, made a calm clearance. The teams went into the break separated by just one goal.

Norway needed to make a change to get back in the game. Head coach Eli Landsem introduced 22-year-old attacker Elise Thorsnes for 30-year-old Wolfsburg-based midfielder Leni Larsen Kaurin, but while Norway were settling down for the second half, Marta struck again.

The Brazilians started the second half in confident fashion, drawing the Norwegians forward. A diagonal pass in Marta’s direction was tapped forward past Marita Skammelsrud Lund and the halfway line. Lund gave chase, but Marta was first to the ball, sending the Norwegian backline into retreat.

Norway streamed back into defence, but too much attention was on the two forwards Marta and Cristiane. A simple pass across the defence found the rightback Rosana, who had sprinted into the box and was free to tuck it into Hjelmseth’s far corner. 2-0 it was just after the break, and Brazil were cruising.

Right after the restart, Fabiana made a brilliant run down the exposed Norway right, and while they mustered just enough to hold on to the ball, pressure from the Brazilians, Cristiane among them, forced Maren Mjelde to make a slow backpass to Hjelmseth. Cristiane was instantly upon it, and Mjelde managed to clear it in desperation but only as far as the waiting Marta, who drew Hjelmseth one way and shot the other. 3-0, and it was all but over.

On 52 minutes, Landsem made another change, replacing Haavi with Cecilie Pedersen. Pedersen and Giske combined well on several occasions, but posed no problems that the Brazilian defence could not handle. Brazil settled back into their defensive positions, happy to let Norway come at them in search of a consolation goal.

Marta almost widened the gap in the 68th minute on the break, but Norway was able to cope with the forward this time, scrambling the ball away in desperation. Her pace, acceleration, strength and ball control are all fearsome qualities that Brazil’s quarterfinal opponents will have to plan for.

Efforts from Thorsnes and Giske off corners came close to providing Norway with some consolation on the night, but the Brazilians finished 3-0 winners to virtually ensure top spot in the group and set up an intriguing clash at Leverkusen between Norway and Australia on Wednesday. Wolfsburg will be the venue for the last Group C match between USA and Sweden which will decide Brazil’s opponents.

Till then, I have lots on my plate as usual, and one of these is to help a neighbour create a website to publicise his writing. Wonder how much is a reasonable price to charge, though, since I’ve never done it for money before. And it’s not like I’m some damn pro web designer… though even if I were I wouldn’t charge a hefty fee.

So, the weekend looks to be filled with anticipation on all fronts, and one thing has at least already gone right: Singapore’s U-16 football team has beaten Juventus U-15 on penalties to advance to the finals of the Canon Lion City Cup. Mismatch on paper, perhaps? But I hear it was an intense match. Singapore’s football future is looking good. What would make it even better is if the U-15s also vanquish Flamengo U-15 to make it an all-Singapore final. Jalan Besar Stadium would be packed to the brim, I think!

One can always dream.