Originally posted by Jaeyoon:
To be frank, I don't think so. Can defend perhaps and keep the score low but not yet to that quality of defeating every top teams. Maybe once in a while, an upset or so only.
You know, upsets or giant-killing happens in soccer everywhere in the world.
Huddersfield from lower division can beat the likes of Arsenal or Manchester United. But who are still stronger? ofcourse Arsenal or Man Utd.
Singapore is still not good enough. Maybe only hold to draw or occasionally upsetting the bigger teams. These days, defense is better partly because of imported foreign players playing for Singapore.
Iraq might have lost to Singapore 2-0 once during a qualifer does mean that Singapore is better overall. On that day, Singapore strike form and Iraq was in not so good condition. Skill-wise and physical-wise, Iraq is still better.
Remember, the return leg, Singapore lost 4-2, finding it hard to repeat the same thing they did in Singapore.
To prove that Singapore is the top tier of Asian soccer, they have to able to beat any of the top Asian teams anytime, anywhere.
There is hope but need more effort, money and match experience. Most importantly, the youth system for the future is necessary.
Yes,I agree absolutely with your comments on Singapore's soccer.Also to add,A good team needs to play a full 90mins with 11 players to the final whistle.If one or two players decides to take a breather even for a minute the whole team would be burdened.Yasser Qatani was the danger man until the two bald headed defenders from Iraq started to go for his precious legs and if you make a living from soccer you would probably switch off too.Also take a closer look at Japan/Korea and see if you noticed how many players are they actually playing with ? On the other hand you have teams like Indonesia ,Thailand or Vietnam which seemed to be playing with 12 or 13 men at every match,hope you guys get what I mean.It does boil down to how much you are willing to put in individually and being a team player.