May 24, 2023

The only thing better than a Double McSpicy is a Double McSpicy meal. Beating Albirex is a Double McSpicy. Beating Albirex when 2-0 down at halftime is a Double McSpicy meal, upsized, and also ticking the option on the machine to add one piece of McCrispy. Yes. Apologies once again for the super late article – I am currently overseas and have been tiring myself out clocking on average more steps daily than I do in a few days back home. The mind has been very very willing to do this post-match thoughts article, and for obvious reasons. If you had read my preview, you would have known that the best I hoped for was a draw. Post-match, my thoughts are much the same – Albirex are still a fantastic team and deserve all the plaudits they get. They are still the frontrunners for the title, both mathematically, and also on paper (yes, more thoughts on this later). However, this was still a momentous day for the Sailors – not just in the context of this season, but also what it means for the Sailors’ confidence moving forward. These are just post-match thoughts, not a detailed analysis, so let me touch on some points that made me think. Importance of this Win First – let me deal with the easy point. There’s been people moaning and groaning about how Sailors players and fans have been celebrating this like they already won the title, people asking us to calm down, pipe down, take it easy, etc etc. I thought long and hard about how I should respond to all this (2 seconds), and I have this to say. I couldn’t give less of a fish. And that fish is an ikan bilis. Simply put, I think these complaints miss the point. First, I have not seen or heard about anyone celebrating like they won the title. Sure, the players and fans may have been happier at full-time than usual, but they just beat the reigning champions who have been sweeping aside all opposition (except Tampines) this season, so surely they should be granted some licence to celebrate. Now, add to that the fact that the Sailors have never beaten Albirex in the league in their short history, the fact that we were playing with none of our starting centre-backs, the fact that we came into this match in pretty patchy form, the fact, that had we lost this game, we are probably out of the title race, and of course, that we turned the match around from 2-0 down at the break in dramatic and deserved fashion, and I think it becomes completely understandable for the fans and players to be delighted at the achievement. Second, who cares what other people think? Football is a game of emotions and I’d much rather have supporters celebrating wildly than the opposite. Separately, if I were to make a bigger point about this as well, part of the reason for the wild celebrations may even be down to the gloomy climate surrounding local football. We’ve just come off a very difficult SEA Games football tournament, where from top to bottom, anyone involved in local football has been criticised. Confidence in Singapore football has not been lower in my lifetime. Maybe I am over-thinking this, but perhaps part of it has to do with the fact that we have so little faith in our own system now, and when coming up against this Albirex juggernaut, we see it as a huge thing to register any sort of victory over them – not least a 3-2 come-from-behind victory. And that brings me to my next point – the Japanese system. Japanese System I will just share some quick thoughts here because I just came back from watching Sagan Tosu vs Jubilo Iwata live in Tosu. It was a Cup fixture that pitted J1 Sagan Tosu v J2 Jubilo Iwata. Jubilo prevailed on the night with an impressive 2-0 away victory. I will write a longer post when I have the time about what I think we can learn from them in terms of fan experience, what I observed, and also perhaps share with readers what I think is impressive about what the Sailors are already doing that approaches good/best practices in the industry. For now, my purpose for referring to this game is simply to illustrate the huge gulf between the Japanese system and the Singapore system. The gulf in quality is really very large. Watching these two teams play, what struck me most was the intense pace of the game throughout, and how the teams could press, and press, and press. Fitness was top-notch for sure. The passing and the touches of the players were also top-notch. You couldn’t tell sometimes which was the J2 team and which was the J1 team, and that’s a real credit to Jubilo – but also the wider system of footballing talent in Japan. Pretty telling that Atsushi Kawata, who was Albirex Niigata (S) top-scorer in the S-League some years back and now plays for Sagan Tosu, was one of the worst players on the pitch. He was subbed off early, and frankly despite putting in a real shift in terms of hard effort – it looked like he was a lucky draw winner that won a chance to play on the same pitch as other professionals. That’s the kinda gulf we’re talking about. And he’s already one of the rare ones who can make it back into the J-League. If we look at some star performers over the years, very few of them managed to carve out meaningful careers back in Japan. Kazuki Hashioka for example, the flying wingback who terrorised the league few years back – not even in a J3 team. He is playing for a regional side in Tokyo. I digress – point is simply, it’s very hard to beat Albirex, and I hope the Sailors take a lot of confidence from this, knowing