PoV –
Search for formula against West Asia
As
Singapore embarked on the West Asian training trip with games against Kuwait
and Oman, it is not just to prepare for the upcoming Asian Cup qualifiers
against Iraq and Palestine, it is the continue search for the formula against
West Asia.
Many
probably have forgotten this year is the tenth year since Asian Football
Confederation (AFC) ended the geography divide of East and West for Asian
Nations.
Singapore
have certainly suffered from that decision make in 1997 but it did open the
eyes of many who were ignorant of the development of football elsewhere in
Asia.
Right
from the beginning, AFC dealt Singapore a terrible hand as 2 West Asian
countries – Kuwait and Lebanon – were grouped with the Republic for the 1998
World Cup Asian Preliminary Round.
By the
end of the campaign, Singapore have just gather 1 point while scoring just 2
goals and conceding 8 goals against the 2 West Asian countries – Kuwait and
Lebanon – in 4 games.
This performance
showed the shortfall Singapore would have to make up in the years ahead as no
longer would the Republic hoped to get minnows like Maldives and Nepal
etc.
But the
learning curve was no bed of roses as a victory for the West Asian countries
against
UAE and
The
suffering continued with the result in the 2002 World Cup Asian Preliminary
Round having a similar looked to the 1998 World Cup Asian Preliminary Round as
Singapore had also gather 1 point while scoring just 2 goals and conceding 8
goals against the 2 West Asian countries – Kuwait and Bahrain – in 4 games.
Thus
the light at the end of the tunnel looked like an impossible dream for
But
there is still the need to prove the victory against Palestine was no flash in
the pan as away from the shore of Singapore, the results were still not
satisfactory with no point and goal collected by Singapore while conceding 6
goals in 2 games against Kuwait and Qatar.
Therefore
the upcoming 2007 Asian Cup qualifiers when Singapore squared up against Iraq
and Palestine, it would be the litmus test to show a decade since the ending of
the geography divide of East and West for Asian Nations, Singapore have finally
wised up and Singapore have the formula for West Asia.
For
without the formula against West Asia,