Singapore FA averts FIFA sanctions with move to end government appointments

Under pressure from FIFA to end government interference in appointment of its officials, the Singapore FA (FAS) has delayed the appointment of new council members, promising to put a new election process in place by March 2016. 

Under Singapore's current selection process the FAS president is an elected member of the ruling People's Action Party, with all council members, including the president and deputy president, appointed by the Singapore minister in charge of sports and confirmed by voting at an annual general meeting.

On Wednesday, as the mandate of the current office holders officially came to an end, the FAS issued a media statement saying: "Over the recent months, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) has been discussing with the FIFA on its process of appointing Council members.

"The current appointment process has been in place since 1982. From the start, FIFA was aware of this practice and did not object to it.

"But FIFA has recently asked the FAS to review its process and to move towards a full election of its Council members.

"That being the case, and on the advice of FIFA, the FAS has decided not to make changes to its office bearers for the time being."

According to the statement the current office holders will instead "work closely with FIFA on the proposed amendments to the FAS Constitution to ensure alignment of our electoral process with the FIFA statutes. We will also seek the consent of our members and affiliates as well as the necessary regulatory approvals for any changes to the Constitution."

The process is expected to be completed by March next year, whilst an announcement on the dates for new elections will follow.

With neighbouring Indonesia having been suspended for political interference, Singapore is clearly concerned to avoid a similar fate.

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ROSMIN SETTLES IT RIGHT AT THE DEATH

Written by: Nigel Chin

Brunei DPMM captain Rosmin Kamis struck a last-minute winner to help his side see off  Courts Young Lions on Tuesday evening at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

Boris Raspudic gave DPMM the lead initially with a 40th-minute opener until Shameer Aziq cancelled it out with a beautiful strike midway through the second-half.

That set the stage up for Rosmin to settle the contest deep into injury-time.

Steve Kean’s men had started the game brightly and could have opened the scoring as early as the third minute, but Paulo Sergio struck the post after getting behind the static Young Lions backline.

Azwan Ali forced Syazwan Buhari into a save four minutes later, while Sergio missed the target once more with an attempted lob over the Young Lions goalkeeper.

The hosts were struggling to get out of their half as DPMM pegged them back, and had to defend in numbers.

 

Both Maududi Hilmi and Rafael Ramazotti missed the targets as well, before Ammirul Emmran produced a good block to prevent Ramazotti from turning a header goalwards.

But the Young Lions’ resistance were finally broken five minutes before the break, when Ramazotti drew away Syazwan’s attention before squaring for the unmarked Boris Raspudic to tap into the empty net.

Ramazotti could have doubled the lead right before the half-time whistle, but fired narrowly wide instead when it was easier to score.

The Young Lions came out of the break determined to get back into the game, and it showed as they immediately went on the attack.

However, their final pass was lacking and it often meant they were unable to create clear-cut chances.

 

It was always going to take something special for the Young Lions to breach the DPMM defence, and right winger Shameer provided that moment of magic in the 74th minute.

Latching onto a brilliant pass from Afiq Noor, the 20-year-old took a touch before sending the ball into the top corner with Wardun Yussof left grasping at thin air as he made a futile attempt to make a save.

Two minutes later, Afiq had a decent chance himself but could not keep his shot down.

The visitors went all out in search of the winner, but were foiled by four excellent stops from Syazwan.

First, he denied Ramazotti with his legs before tipping Raspudic’s header from a corner.

Two minutes later, he came out quickly off his line to prevent Sergio from scoring as he broke into the box, before stopping Shahrazen Said’s fierce shot.

But there was nothing Syazwan could have done to prevent the goal as full-time loomed.

As Shahrazen broke down the left past Fadli Kamis, Syazwan came off his line to narrow down the angle only for the DPMM substitute to square it to the unmarked Rosmin, who blasted the ball into the roof of the net for the winner.

Courts Young Lions: Syazwan Buhari (GK)(C), Fadli Kamis, Faris Azienuddin, Amirul Adli, Safirul Sulaiman, Afiq Noor, Ammirul Emmran (Nur Na’iim Ishak 54’), Shameer Aziq (Shamil Sharif 90’), Shahfiq Ghani, Adam Swandi, Danial Razali (Farhan Rahmat 73’)

Brunei DPMM: Wardun Yussof, Helmi Zambin, Boris Raspudic, Brian McLean, Sairol Sahari, Maududi Hilmi, Rosmin Kamis, Joseph Gamble, Azwan Ali (Shahrazen Said 66’), Paulo Sergio, Rafael Ramazotti

TIGERS CUT GAP TO FIVE POINTS

Written by: Shawn Lim

Balestier Khalsa remained within touching distance of league leaders Brunei DPMM after beating Harimau Muda 2-0 on Sunday night at Hang Jebat Stadium

Goals from Robert Pericic and Miroslav Kristic in either half were enough to send the Tigers to second place in the table, five points behind DPMM and one point ahead of third place Warriors FC, who have a game in hand.

The visitors began the match quietly, but their first attack led to the opening goal after some great buildup play by Ignatius Ang and Nurullah Hussein on the left flank saw the latter crossing a low ball to Pericic at the near post in the fifth minute.

The unmarked Croatian had all the time in the world to control the ball before slamming it past Farhan Abu Bakar for his seventh goal of the season.

The hosts’ response to the early goal was not to panic, but to stick to their chosen game plan of pressing Balestier high up the field.

Captain Nazirul Hashim was unlucky not to draw the Young Tigers level just two minutes later when he curled in a free-kick that looked destined for the top right corner, only to see Ridwan Jamil head the ball out for a corner.

Faris Shah was next to try his luck in the 13th minute, but fired wide after receiving a splendid low cross from Syahrul Azwari.

Nazirul then had another glorious opportunity to pull a goal back for the hosts after finding space in the 18-yard box, but fired his shot straight at Balestier custodian Zaiful Nizam.

Zulkiffli Hassim could have doubled the Tigers’ lead three minutes before the break after being sent through on goal by a fantastic pass from Tarik Cmajcanin, but Farhan came charging off his line to collect the ball.

Harimau Muda emerged from the break determined to reduce the deficit and almost succeeded in the 51st minute when they were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the 18-yard box, but Adam Nor curled his shot just wide.

A minute later, Zaiful was required to thwart Akhir Bahari’s rasping drive after the midfielder was the first to pounce onto a loose ball in the 18-yard box.

Balestier managed to extend their lead when Kristic’s run forward from the edge of the box was expertly picked out by Ang from the left flank in the 53rd minute and the Croatian tapped the ball into an empty net to become the league’s third-joint top scorer with 14 goals.

The Young Tigers’ misery was further compounded when Kenny Pallraj received his second yellow card of the game for a blatant foul in the 74th minute.

Despite having to cope with a numerical disadvantage, the hosts refused to give up in their search for a goal to reduce the deficit.

Their efforts almost paid off in stoppage time when Adam fired a piledriver from 30 yards out and saw Zaiful spill his shot, but the ball was cleared by Igor Cerina as the referee blew for full-time moments later.

Harimau Muda: Farhan Abu Bakar (GK), Wan Ahmad Zafran, Nazirul Hashim (C), Irfan Zakaria (Amirul Hisyam 83’), Annas Rahmat, Ridzuan Abdunloh Pula (Asri Mardzuki 69’), Akhir Bahari, Faris Shah, Kenny Pallraj, Adam Nor, Syahrul Azwari (Kumaahran Sathasivam 46’)

Balestier Khalsa: Zaiful Nizam (GK) (C), Hanafi Salleh, Emir Lotinac, Igor Cerina, Nurullah Hussein (Yusiskandar Yusop 79’), Zulkiffli Hassim, Ridwan Jamil (Poh Yifeng 66’), Tarik Cmajcanin (Jonathan Xu 83’), Ignatius Ang, Miroslav Kristic, Robert Pericic

CAPTAIN NURHILMI RESCUES POINT FOR CHEETAHS

Written By: Kenneth Ho

Nurhilmi Jasni was Hougang United's saviour on Thursday evening as he scored two goals to help them draw 2-2 with Courts Young Lions at home.

As a result, both teams remain level on points in the table with Hougang in eighth place and Courts Young Lions a spot behind.

It was a game of two halves for Hougang, as they dominated the first half but were placed under heavy pressure in the next.

Playing their first home game in two months, Hougang made a flying start to the match as Nurhilmi opened the scoring after 15 seconds had lapsed.

From the kick-off, Carlos Delgado found his captain with a long ball down the right and Nurhilmi skillfully navigated towards goal before slotting past Syazwan Buhari.

It could have been 2-0 to the Cheetahs just five minutes later, with Vuk Sotirovic finding space down the right but he drilled his effort just past the post.

Nurhilmi nearly scored a replica of his goal in the 19th minute but this time Syazwan was equal to the task.

The Young Lions goalkeeper continued to stand in Hougang's way, as he parried a shot away from Sotirovic three minutes later.

A free-kick by Diego Gama then bounced just wide of the post as Hougang went into the break with a slender one-goal lead.

However, the Young Lions came out all guns blazing at the restart and managed to turn things around within four minutes.

Just a minute into the second half, Afiq Noor smashed home from close range for the equaliser.

The visitors then went ahead in the game in the 49th minute, with Shameer Aziq scoring his third goal in as many games.

Jordan Webb did well to cut in from the byline before finding the striker with a low pass, and the latter dispatched a calm finish past Ridhuan Barudin to make it 2-1.

Webb had a chance to score a goal himself in the 56th minute when Hougang were caught sleeping at the back but he contrived to hit the post instead. Shameer was first to reach the rebound but he drove his shot over.

Young Lions continued to trouble Hougang but a decent final ball was lacking and it resulted in them being unable to create any clear-cut chances.

Hougang made them pay for it in the 73rd minute, with Nurhilmi scoring his second goal of the game.

Delgado once again provided the assist, after he ran onto Sotirovic's pass and crossed to his captain, who deftly headed in his side's equaliser.

Webb had a chance to regain the lead for his side with four minutes remaining, but he shot straight at Ridhuan instead.

The last chance of the game saw Gama missing a header at the far post and left both teams with no choice but to settle for a point.

Hougang United: Ridhuan Barudin (GK), Delwinder Singh, Kunihiro Yamashita, Atsushi Shimono, Carlos Delgado, Diego Gama, Vuk Sotirovic, Faizal Amir, Fazli Jaffar, Nurhilmi Jasni (C) (Ruzaini Zainal 82'), Lau Meng Meng (Faiz Salleh 54')

Courts Young Lions: Syazwan Buhari (GK), Fadli Kamis, Amirul Adli, M.Anumanthan, Safirul Sulaiman, Nur Na’iim Ishak (Shahfiq Ghani 67'), Jordan Webb, Afiq Noor, Ammirul Emmran, Farhan Rahmat (Sherif El-Masri 76'), Shameer Aziq (Suria Prakash 69')