Heart of the Matter: FAS to leave ‘no stone unturned’ after Singapore football squad review

SINGAPORE: When the Young Lions came off the field after a 7-0 drubbing by Malaysia, the brickbats came fast and furious. For seasoned sports journalist Philip Goh, that result summed up the growing chasm of football standards between both countries. 

“We've been losing at the age group competitions for quite a while now. Every single age group competition that we go to, we seem to come back with very adverse results.  

“(The Malaysians) are continuing to progress, but we’ve been regressing," said Mr Goh, on the latest episode of the Heart of the Matter podcast. 

Mr Bernard Tan, acting president of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), who was also a guest on the show, did not refute Mr Goh’s observation. He agreed that the younger age groups have not been doing well in tournaments and the key is to find out why.  

On the SEA Games loss, he told host Steven Chia: “Never in our wildest dreams (did we think) we would lose 7-0 … some of them can't really explain what went wrong on the field ... the technical team (needs time) to really ask ourselves, what really went wrong?” 

It has been 10 years since the Under-22 football team made it out of the group stages. The last time Singapore made it to the men's football finals at the Games was in 1989. 

Following the recent performance, FAS announced that it will convene a review panel to evaluate the squad’s scorecard. The findings and recommendations will be made public – with Mr Tan calling for patience.  

“I know fans are frustrated. I know there is a tremendous amount of scrutiny and criticism of the FAS … At its lowest point ... there is a huge opportunity for introspection, for change. 

“I asked people for patience to wait for the report to come out. I have a sense that