It was a cold winter evening in February 2004 in Tokyo. I was watching Japan taking on Iraq, who was making their first appearance after the war, on a friendly from the stand. Although Japan won the game 2-0, it was Iraq’s performance, which caught my attention. The Iraqis played swift flowing football, at times one-touch passing, the transition of play, off the ball running from the players, then I was thinking how great that would be if Singapore could play like them.
Now, we could have a chance to play like the Iraqis.
After months of searching, FAS finally unveiled the new Singapore National Team coach whom the whole nation has been waiting anxiously for months yesterday. The “right” man with one and only task, which is to bring Singapore’s football up to another level, is 65yrs old Bernd Stange from Germany.
Having led Iraq from 74th to 40th position in the FIFA ranking between 2002 – 2004, he also achieved the same success with Belarus by leading the European team from 90th to 36th position in 2011. With such an impressive record, coach Stange seems to be the man who could give Singapore football the extra gear to move its engine up another level.
As the reigning ASEAN football champion, Singapore is certainly looking forward to match the Gulf countries as well as the East Asia’s. With the newly appointed coach Stange, his coaching stints with Oman and Iraq could be a huge asset to Singapore football.
According to report, coach Stange mentioned that his football philosophy is dominating, attacking football, and if possible one-touch football, the international way of football. If these are true, we are definitely looking at a brand new era of Singapore football.
Regardless of your personal preference of who should be the head coach of Singapore, we should all extend our greatest support to coach Stange since he is already the chosen one for the job. Junpiter Futbol wishes him and Singapore football all the best. You have our support, coach Stange!
Photo: FAS FB
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