South East Asian Football Thread

[mrtoad]

Okay as some of us live here, and others have interests in this, then might as well start up a thread about football in the region.

I'll kick off with saying I am not a fan of Thai football after their walk off in that match against S'pore earlier in the year, but other than that there's some interesting characters and stories in the region. Not suprisingly, cheating, corruption, match fixing are pretty prominent, but will SEA finally get a team into the World Cup Finals?

Okay, heres the first story, and it's from Singapore, sounds like there start striker is a bit of a hothead.

Singapore’s Noh hoping for mercy after attack on team-mate

SINGAPORE: Singapore striker Noh Alam Shah will throw himself on the mercy of a disciplinary panel on Monday when he faces misconduct charges after an attack on an international team-mate during last month’s Singapore Cup final.

The 27-year-old is charged with violent conduct after the attack on Daniel Bennett of Singapore Armed Forces FC in the 93rd minute of that final. The players clashed while challenging for a high ball.

Noh Alam appeared to knee and elbow the defender in the chest as he charged in and, while Bennett was on the ground grimacing in pain, the striker kneed him in the back of the head.

The Tampines forward was led away by team-mates, only to break free seconds later and kick his Singapore Lions team-mate in the back.

“Physical intimidation is part of his game,” Bennett later told Singapore’s Straits Times. “You expect that – but not what happened.”

Noh Alam also faces a charge of aggressive behaviour after first confronting the match referee and then a Singapore FA photographer as he was escorted from the pitch following a red card for his attack on Bennett.

Noh Alam was full of remorse once the red mist had lifted.

“I would like to apologise to everyone. I regret that things turned out this way,” he said following the incident.

SAFFC beat Tampines 4-3 in the heated final to clinch the league and Cup double. – Reuters

[mrtoad]

Can Lions cope without Alam Shah?

In-form striker's physical play will be missed if he is suspended for World Cup qualifiers

By Wang Meng Meng

WHEN HE IS FOCUSED on the game, Alam Shah ( can be a handful, as Malaysia found to their consternation in the Asean Football Championship semi-finals.

HAS Noh Alam Shah's reckless actions dented Singapore's World Cup hopes?

When the Tampines Rovers striker attacked Daniel Bennett in last Sunday's Singapore Cup final, it not only earned him a straight red card but also put him on course for a lengthy ban.

With his team down 3-4 in stoppage time, Alam Shah lost his self-control and appeared to elbow Singapore Armed Forces Football Club defender Bennett in the chest before launching a knee to his head.

The 27-year-old has until Wednesday to explain his actions to the Football Association of Singapore.

But a disciplinary hearing and a suspension appear likely, based on precedents.

In 2003, then-Sembawang Rangers defender Shariff Abdul Samat was banned for nine months from all football activities and fined $500 for punching Geylang United's Peter Bennett.

Alam Shah's suspension is likely to weaken the national team's fire-power during their World Cup qualifying campaign.

Coach Raddy Avramovic is known to be a strict disciplinarian who does not hesitate to crack the whip on errant Lions.

But can the Serb afford to lose his star striker, who has scored 28 times in 63 international appearances?

Avramovic has declined comment.

But captain Indra Sahdan felt it would be a loss, though he added that Singapore could cope without the target man.

He said: 'Alam Shah is important to the Lions because he is a great team player.

'He helps the boys out with his battling qualities. He is a striker who challenges for the high balls and it is up to the other forwards like me to pick up the second ball.

'His physical presence give us possibilities. It will be a big loss if he is suspended, but we have to get on with life.

'Our success is all down to good team work.''

Goalkeeper Lionel Lewis added: 'If Alam Shah is suspended, we will miss his strong presence and never-say-die attitude.''

A first-team regular, Alam Shah has been in red-hot form for Singapore this year.

He top scored with 10 goals when the Lions won the Asean Football Championship in February.

The haul included a national record of seven goals in the 11-0 slaughter of Laos.

'Alam Shah has been prolific for the Lions,'' noted former national midfielder Goh Tat Chuan.

'He proved in the Asean Football Championship that he is the best striker in the region.''

According to Goh, who played alongside the striker in the 2005 Tiger Cup win, Alam Shah's strength lies in his big heart.

The retired midfielder said: 'Alam Shah's self-belief and positive attitude rub off on the rest of the team.

'He hates losing. He defends from the front. When you see a striker fighting so hard, the midfielders and defenders are inspired to push up and squeeze the opponents.

'He is an exceptional player to have when the chips are down.''

Singapore have done well to ease past Palestine and Tajikistan in the first two rounds of the World Cup qualifiers.

But Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Lebanon will be tough opponents in the third-round group stage.

This is where, according to Goh, Alam Shah's influence will be crucial.

'The group stage will be very tough, with games against Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan,' said Goh.

'They are physical sides. The Saudis and Uzbeks will not relish facing someone like Alam Shah, who is a real menace for defenders.''

Since scaling the Asean summit 10 months ago, Avramovic has tweaked his game plan to an attacking 4-2-4 system for the World Cup qualifiers.

And the new central striking partnership of Aleksandar Duric and Alam Shah has worked a treat, with the duo netting three goals in the two games they played together.

It was the Tampines man who blasted home the crucial away goal from 20 metres against Tajikistan to give Singapore an aggregate 3-1 win.

That was his 28th international goal in 63 matches, a strike rate that has made him the country's current leading scorer.

But Indra feels that Avramovic will change his adventurous strategy, with or without Alam Shah.

'Raddy is unlikely to place all his emphasis on attack for the big games,'' the skipper said.

'It's not the wise thing to do against stronger opponents like Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan.

'But we still have Duric, who has done well so far.''

Others, like reader Daniel Izzat, have made an impassioned plea for Alam Shah to be kept in the fold.

He said: 'Alam Shah carries the dreams of the whole of Singapore.

'He has been crucial in all our international matches.'

But Terence Goh, an avid Lions fan, disagreed: 'Key player or not, Alam Shah should not have acted in such a way.

'He's not fit to be in the team. We cannot simply close one eye and forget about his violent act. Furthermore, this is not the first time he has exploded.

'Such hot-tempered characters have no place in the national team.''

[email protected]

'If Alam Shah is suspended, we will definitely miss his strong presence and never-say-die attitude.'

NATIONAL GOALKEEPER LIONEL LEWIS

'He hates losing. He defends from the front. When you see a striker fighting so hard, the midfielders and defenders will be inspired to push up and squeeze the opponents. He is an exceptional player to have when the chips are down.'

FORMER NATIONAL MIDFIELDER GOH TAT CHUAN

'We cannot simply close one eye and forget about his violent act. Furthermore, this is not the first time he exploded. Such hot-tempered characters have no place in the national team.'

TERENCE GOH, a Lions fan ...OR VIOLENT, HOT-HEADED LIABILITY? BIG-HEARTED, NEVER-SAY-DIE ASSET

[mrtoad]

And here's the link to the action......ouch!!!!

[mrbojangles]

Good topic Toady. Especially for us who don't live out in the region

[mrtoad]

AFF Football Championship

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The AFF Football Championship (formerly known as Tiger Cup) is a biennial international football competition organised by the ASEAN Football Federation, contested by the national teams of nations in Southeast Asia. Since it was inaugurated in 1996, the cup has been won three times by both Singapore and Thailand. Indonesia has been runner-up three times, but has never won the cup. Malaysia and Vietnam have also been runners-up once each.

Singapore-based Asia Pacific Breweries, makers of Tiger Beer, was the sponsor of the competition from its inauguration till 2005, during which the competition was known as the Tiger Cup. The competition was renamed as the AFF Football Championship from 2007 as a result of a termination of the sponsorship deal.

Tournaments

1996

The 1996 event was held in Singapore, and was won by the favourites, Thailand, who defeated Malaysia 1-0 in the final.

1998

The 1998 tournament, held in Vietnam. Group A's matches were played in Ho Chi Minh City hosted Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Philippines. And Group B's matches were played in Hanoi hosted Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Laos.

This tournament was marred by an unsportsmanlike match between Thailand and Indonesia during the group stage of the competition. Both teams were already assured of qualification for the semi-finals, but both teams knew that the winners of the game would face hosts Vietnam in the semi-finals, while the losing team would face Singapore who were perceived to be easier opposition and avoid the fuss of moving training bases from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi for the semi-final. The first half saw little action, with both teams barely making an attempt to score. During the second half both teams managed to score, partly thanks to half-hearted defending, resulting in a 2-2 scoreline after 90 minutes. Then, during injury time, Indonesian defender Mursyid Effendi deliberately kicked the ball into his own goal, despite the Thai's attempts to stop him doing so, thus handing Thailand a 3-2 victory. Both teams were fined for "violating the spirit of the game" and Mursyid Effendi was banned from football for life.

In the semi-finals, Thailand lost to Vietnam, and Indonesia also lost to Singapore. In the final, the title was to elude the hosts as they went down 1-0 to unfancied Singapore in one of the competition's biggest shocks to date.

2000

Thailand hosted the Tiger Cup in 2000, and won the tournament as it powered through the competition, ending with a hat-trick by Thai player Worrawoot Srimaka to clinch a decisive 4-1 win over Indonesia. Worrawoot also finished the tournament as a joint top-scorers with Indonesia's Gendut Doni Christiawan with 5 goals each.

2002 Tiger Cup

In the final match between Thailand and Indonesia, Thailand took a 2-0 lead against hosts Indonesia by the end of the first half. However, the Indonesians battled back to level the score and force the game into a penalty shootout, which was won 4-2 by the Thais.

Therdsak Chaiman was named the Most Valuable Player of this tournament, while Indonesia's Bambang Pamungkas finished as the tournament's top scorer with 8 goals.

2004

2004 Tiger Cup

The 2004 event was held from 7 December 2004 through 16 January 2005. Matches for Preliminary Group A were held in Vietnam while Preliminary Group B was staged in Malaysia.

The tournament marked the first major football tournament for East Timor after gaining independence in 2000.

Despite an unimpressive group stage campaign where Singapore notched draws against Vietnam and Indonesia, the team made it to the final where it clinched a 5-2 win aggregate against Indonesia in the 2-legged match (home and away). In the first leg held in Jakarta, Singapore surprised punters with a 3-1 victory. Singapore won 2-1 on home ground in the return leg 8 days later to claim the country's first international trophy on home soil.

In the 3rd-4th place playoff, Malaysia beat Myanmar for the third place.

Lionel Lewis was named the Most Valuable Player of this tournament, while Ilham Jayakesuma of Indonesia won the golden boot with 7 goals in this tournament.

2007 AFF Football Championship

The 2007 Cup was renamed the AFF Football Championship. This was due to the cup's main sponsor, Tiger Beer, not continuing their title sponsorship. This was the last event held at Singapore's National Stadium before its redevelopment.

The 2007 AFF Cup was co-hosted by three time champions, Thailand, and defending champions and eventual winners Singapore. The two hosts are the only two teams that have won the championship since its inception in 1996.

The qualifying round for the lower ranked teams in Southeast Asia was held at the Panaad Stadium, in Bacolod City, Philippines from Novermber 12-20 2006. This tournament marks the first time that lower ranked teams were required to participate in the qualifying round (in previous tournaments all teams participated in the final tournament). The teams that competed were host nation (for the qualifying round only) the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, East Timor and Brunei. They were placed in a single group of five with each team playing each other once. The top two teams in the qualifying round, Philippines and Laos, advanced to the finals joined by automatic qualifiers Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Indonesia.

After a group stage with two pools of four the two host nations met in a two game final. In the first leg of the final, a controversial penalty was awarded to Singapore at the 83rd minute of the match, and the Thailand team walked off the pitch as a protest to the referee's decision. The Thailand team returned to the pitch at the 98th minute, and Singapore later won 2-1.

In the second leg of the final, Singapore had a goal controversially chalked off for being offside[but finally drew 1-1 to fellow co-host Thailand, with Khairul Amri scoring the decisive goal in the closing stages of the match, thus giving Singapore their 2nd title in succession, winning with an aggregate score of 3-2, and successfully defending the title. While Thailand can point to the controversial penalty for their defeat in the first leg, they failed to defeat Singapore in the Bangkok second-leg. It could have been worse for Thailand had the match officials seen Thai midfielder Datsakorn Thonglao head-butt Singapore's Khairul Amri to vent his anger after the equaliser[

Noh Alam Shah of Singapore was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player and the Golden Boot Award winner for scoring 10 goals, 7 of which came against Laos.

Singapore set an AFF Cup record of a 15-match unbeaten run under coach Radojko Avramovic, stretching back to the 2004 Tiger Cup, and 17-match unbeaten run since the 4-0 defeat at home to neighbours Malaysia in the same competition on 18 December 2002.

A nice little overview of the National teams in the region. As can be scene, there's normally plenty of controversy.

[Spit the Dog]

Alam Shah did go a bit ballistic. Wonder what Daniel Bennett said to him???

[mrtoad]

Alam Shah did go a bit ballistic. Wonder what Daniel Bennett said to him???

A few rumours, but nothing concrete. Something about calling his mother a terrorist whore or that Bennet was shagging Mrs Shah, either way he went OTT.

He has subsequently been banned for a year in S'pore, but will probably head off down to Indonesia to play under Fandi Ahmed (Singaporean legend) who is managing a team down there.

[mrbojangles]

Hey Toady,

Totally off topic but i was in another thread about phobias. Guess what, there's one for you

Bufonophobia- Fear of toads.

Is that a Toad with a funny hair cut

[mrtoad]

Hey Toady,

Totally off topic but i was in another thread about phobias. Guess what, there's one for you

Bufonophobia- Fear of toads.

Is that a Toad with a funny hair cut

DO NOT FEAR THE TOAD

Edited December 12, 2007 by mrtoad