Recent developments in the local football scene have been alarming. The national team dropped to 162nd in the FIFA rankings and drew their recent match at home to 175th-ranked Guam.
This came after the ASEAN Football Federation Championship last year, in which we were eliminated at the group stage as hosts.
The Under-23 team, who will play in the coming South-east Asian Games, lost 3-1 at home last month to Cambodia’s U-22s. And our U-22 team finished third in the Asian Football Confederation U-23 Championship group qualifiers, behind China and Laos.
The situation seems to have reached a boiling point, and it appears there are three options going forward: Concentrate on the S-League alone; shut down the S-League and focus on three to four teams competing in regional competitions; or maintain the status quo.
The last option is almost equivalent to flogging a dead horse, hoping that younger players will somehow be unearthed to play in the S-League. While the second option is worth considering, it may limit opportunities for our players and thereby the talent pool.
Top Asian teams such as Japan, South Korea and Australia have successful local leagues and are able to draw their international players from both their local clubs and foreign clubs.
It may be worthwhile for the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) to take a leaf out of our founding fathers’ book. They were determined to push ahead alone and make Singapore successful after separation, so that we need not crawl back begging for help.
More recently, the water issue was partially solved with the introduction of NEWater. If we had continued to hope that we could keep buying water from our neighbours, we would have not stumbled upon the solution.
The FAS has argued that local players have been groomed well and are being pursued by or plying their trade in top sides overseas. Football is a game of 11 players, however, and our top two or three players must be supported by an equally able team.
At the same time, the LionsXII side winning the 2013 Malaysian Super League has not translated into success on the international front.
While FAS administrators have stressed that their goal is to field a strong and successful national team, they should take a hard look at their strategy and whether it is bearing fruit.
Considering the recent shambles and lethargy, it is perhaps time to change direction. We should aim for the stars instead of being a big fish in a small pond.
