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Wednesday, June 30, 2010

 

Cardiff Cancel Malaysia Trip

After visiting Malaysian capital Kuala Lumper Cardiff City have decided to cancel their proposed tour for this year at least.

Cardiff team manager Dave Jones went on a recent inspection to KL and decided to postpone the trip.

Seems a bit harsh, KL ain't that bad. Then again maybe he had a meeting with the FA...

Anyway it also seems that Real Madrid backed out of a tour as well.

Never mind Malaysia...why not contact the English FA? They're feeling particularly unloved these days, a trip to KL could be just what they need!



 

Indonesia Cup Quarter Final Draw Dates

15/07 Pelita Jaya v Persipura
16/07 Sriwijaya v Persebaya
17/07 Persija v Persik
18/07 Arema v Persib
19/07 Persipura v Pelita Jaya
20/07 Persebaya v Sriwijaya
21/07 Persik v Persija
22/07 Persib v Arema

 

WANTED! New Stadium for Jakarta...

It's not easy trying to follow local football in Jakarta. The local authorities don't seem to give a toss whether there is a football team in the capital city or not though you can be sure that if Persija do actually win a trophy they will come crawling out of the woodwork for the photo ops.

Fans of Persija often find home games are played behind closed doors or moved to a different city altogether as local security officials decide they can't handle the crowds.

The lack of a decent stadium is also a bugbear. Bung Karno holds 88,000 and is right in the middle of the city along a main road that is home to many head offices and hotels. Lebak Bulus is in South Jakarta and is a purpose built football stadium but only holds 12,500.

Jakarta is crying out for a mid sized stadium, capable of holding 40 or 50,000 fans but despite their being plans for such a stadium in Sunter, home to some wonderful traffic jams, little seems to get done about it.

Oh yeah, the point of this thread. Persija are concerned their Q/F against Persik may be moved outside the capital, possibly to Solo, because of the local apathy.

Meanwhile Surabaya is building it's own Bung Tomo Stadium holding a similar amount. Bandung hopes, one day, to have a new stadium. Samarinda has one of the best in the country. Jakabaring, across the river from Palembang, has a 40,000 stadium. Soreang, an hour south of Bandung as a 35,000 stadium.

And Jakarta? Jakarta gets more shopping malls!

 

Short Term Thinking Mars Arema Preparations

Having been drawn against Persib in the Quarter Finals of the Indonesia Cup, ISL champions Arema should be focused on a double season. But they're not. Instead players' contracts are lapsing and management are, apparently, only offering short term deals to keep players until the end of the Cup.

Naturally the players are none too happy with this short term thinking and are holding out for season long deals covering 2010-2011.

While this kind of thinking, save a few bob today and let tomorrow sort itself out, is common enough I do have a shred of sympathy with the club in this case. The powers that be that run the league know how clubs operate here and despite telling everyone to get proactive in their planning it just isn't happeneing.

But the organisers haven't helped matters by having the quarters/semis and final of the Indonesia Cup long after the season has ended. What kind of daft thinking is that? Contracts are ending and players are thinking of their futures, not some games added almost as an after thought to the season.

With a new season slated to start in September why the hell would players want to sign on for an extra month or two then come August, when the Cup is finally done and dusted, start thinking about finding a new club when most clubs will have already done their signings and be in pre season.

It's a nonsense schedule and one the League should have forseen.

 

New boys eye Singaporean

Metro FC, newly promoted to the Indonesia Premier League, have begun planning for their debut season and are reported to be close to signing a Singapore player. No idea who mind...

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

 

Singapore eye Young Lions trip

SINGAPORE, 29 June 2010 The Singapore Asian Games team will be leaving on Wednesday 30 June for Yangon to play two friendly games against the Myanmar Senior Team on 2 and 4 July.

From 22 players named in the squad, 18 are from the Young Lions team who are currently fifth in the Great Eastern - YEO’S S.League and have been unbeaten for the past eight matches.

Defenders Hidhir Hasbiallah from Gombak United and Sengkang Punggol’s Shahir Hamzah have been included to bolster the team’s defence, with Woodlands Wellington’s forward, Rizawan Abdullah, making up the remaining players from the other S.League clubs.

Of the 22 named, three players namely, Zulfahmi Arifin, Hidhir and Rizawan have been called up to the Under -23 team for the first time.

The tour will provide the Asian Games team with valuable international experience, having played their last game against SEA Games Gold medallist, Malaysia in a 1-0 win back in April.

National Coach Radojko Avramovic believes that the experience will give the players excellent exposure.

“At this age, players need to play more international games to help them grow. We believe that Myanmar will provide our young players with a good test. This is a good learning experience and they will have adjust and adapt to international opponents.

“Looking forward, we need to expose these players for more such games, in order to prepare them for future international tournaments like the Olympic Games qualifiers and SEA Games.”

The Asian Games team leaves for Yangon on 30 June and are due back on 5 July.

INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY MATCHES

MYANMAR NATIONAL TEAM v SINGAPORE ASIAN GAMES TEAM

Match Details

Myanmar National Team v Singapore Asian Games Team

Date: 2 July 2010 (Friday)

Time: 1530 hrs (local time)

Venue: Youth Training Center

(No details for 2nd friendly given in original mail shot)

SINGAPORE ASIAN GAMES TEAM

S/N

Name

Club

Position

DOB

1

Hidhir Hasbiallah

Gombak United FC

DF

25-Mar-1989

2

Shahfiq Ghani

National Football Academy - U18

MF

17-Mar-1992

3

Shahir Hamzah

Sengkang Punggol FC

DF

7-Apr-1989

4

Rizawan Abdullah

Woodlands Wellington FC

FW

4-Aug-1987

5

Jasper Chan

Young Lions

GK

7-Nov-1988

6

Eddie Chang

Young Lions

DF

10-May-1990

7

Eugene Luo

Young Lions

FW

20-Jan-1991

8

Madhu M Mohana

Young Lions

DF

6-Mar-1991

9

Izwan Mahbud

Young Lions

GK

14-Jul-1990

10

Afiq Yunos

Young Lions

DF

10-Dec-1990

11

Faritz Abdul Hameed

Young Lions

MF

16-Jan-1990

12

Fadhil Noh

Young Lions

FW

4-Mar-1989

13

Fairoz Hasan

Young Lions

Young Lions

FW

26-Nov-1988

14

Fazli Ayob

Young Lions

FW

24-Jan-1990

15

Hafiz Abu Sujad

Young Lions

MF

1-Nov-1990

16

Izzdin Shafiq

Young Lions

MF

14-Dec-1990

17

Khairul Nizam

Young Lions

FW

25-Jun-1991

18

Khalili D'cruz

Young Lions

FW

14-Aug-1991

19

Nazrul Ahmad Nazari

Young Lions

MF

11-Feb-1991

20

Safuwan Baharudin

Young Lions

DF

22-Sep-1991

21

Zulfahmi Arifin

Young Lions

MF

5-Oct-1991

22

Gabriel Quak Jun Yi

Young Lions

MF

22-Dec-1990


 

Movement at Persib

Persib have brought in somebody to do a job for them. Thing is I don't know if he is to be either Technical Director or Coach.

His name is Darko Janackovic and he is French. Or Serbian.

Until coming to Bandung he has spent the last two and a half years coaching in Algeria. In which case he should have been aiding and abetting Fabio Capello in South Africa but I surely digress.

A fuller profile can be found on the Persib fan site Simamaung.



 

Indonesia Cup Quarter Final Draw

Pelita Jaya v Persipura
Sriwijaya FC v Persebaya
Persija v Persik
Arema v Persib

Ties to be played home and away from 15-22 July but actual dates to be decided. Overcome Pelita Jaya and runners' u[ in the last three years Persipura could well come up against holders Sriwijaya in a repeat of last year's final. Persija's reward if they beat Persik will be either Arema or Persib.

Semi finals to be a one off affair at a neutral venue.

 

The Golden Generation?

Built up by the media, destroyed by the media. That, as ever, sums up England's World Cup in 2010. But why oh why were the same old serial losers even selected?

In my Jakarta Globe column this week I jump on the ragging England bandwagon with an article called The Broken Generation...just kidding. I did write this in September, among others, and I stick by it.

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