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[Specials] Rankovic Departs: Success Without Romance

Photo Credit: Lion City Sailors FC Glory doesn’t always guarantee affection. After two and a half trophy-laden years, Aleksandar Rankovic has left the Lion City Sailors. The most decorated coach in the club’s short history, “Ranko” delivered a Singapore Premier League (SPL) title, three Singapore Cups, on top of a fairytale run to the final of the 2024/25 AFC Champions League Two. Despite his successes, the Serbian coach’s departure has come amid growing discontent. Sacked one day after a disappointing 2-0 loss to Cambodian champions Svay Rieng FC, it has been a miserable campaign for LCS in continental competitions, who have been dumped out at the group stage in both the ACL2 as well as the Shopee Cup. Undoubtedly though, Ranko does deserve our gratitude for his role in our development of the club, and Singapore football in general. In this article, I try to put some context to Ranko’s tenure, his tactics, and where the club must go from here. Ranko-who? For many Sailors fans (myself included), Rankovic’s appointment in June 2023 was met more with puzzled curiosity than genuine excitement. After all, I don’t imagine too many football fans, not least Singaporean ones, would be familiar with a man whose CV featured a brief stint as head coach of Eredivisie side ADO Den Haag, and a smattering of assistant positions at other Dutch clubs.  In his first words after being appointed head coach, Rankovic highlighted his preferred style of dominating possession and playing attacking football, not surprising considering his background in Dutch football. Curiously though, Sailors technical director Luka Lalic described Rankovic’s style as being “pragmatic and straightforward”. Sailors fans would soon understand the contradiction. Ever since privatisation in 2020, LCS have always been labelled as the “Manchester City” of Singapore, due to immense financial resources that dwarfs our  domestic opponents. The club flexed its fiscal muscles to bring big-name attacking players such as Diego Lopes, Maxime Lestienne, Kim Shin-wook and Richairo Zivkovic to the SPL, a calibre of players that was almost unseen previously in our domestic league.  However, similar to what his predecessors Kim Do-hoon, Lalic and Risto Vidakovic experienced, having these quality attackers did not make it easy to produce silky attacking football that fans had come to expect and demand. Teams in the SPL started playing ultra-defensively against LCS, frequently retreating into a tight low block to limit opportunities, relying on counter-attacking opportunities to try and nick a result. On the other hand, the continental opposition posed an even bigger challenge. With the level of opponents simply being much higher than in domestic games, the Sailors simply could not keep up with regional competitors.  Very soon, the problem statement for any LCS head coach became clear: “How do you build a team that can regularly unpick tight, low-block defences in the SPL, yet be able to adapt in the Champions League, where better teams would force us to do a lot more defending?” Pragmatic solutions To understand Rankovic, we have to first understand the environment he inherited. Joining midway through the 2023 season, 2024-25 marked Ranko’s first full season in charge.That year, LCS started in a standard 4-2-3-1 shape. (Line-up against Tampines Rovers, 18 July 2024)  With this shape, LCS started by winning six out of seven games in the SPL. Yet, the victories often felt laborious. Fans got the feeling that we were over-reliant on individual brilliance in attack, yet somehow vulnerable defensively. The fears were not unfounded, as the Sailors were then brutally thrashed 5-0 by Gavin Lee’s Tampines Rovers in the league. The weaknesses were clear to see. At the back, Toni and Bailey are great penalty-box defenders but are not blessed with great pace. They were frequently exposed to pacy forwards running into the channels, having to cover large distances, especially when the fullbacks pushed forward to attack. Attacking-wise, it was also difficult to progress the ball through midfield, as Hariss and Anu are not natural, line-breaking creative passers. The quality of our attackers meant that we could get by against weaker teams, but there were major weaknesses that could be exposed even by our domestic rivals, let alone against continental opposition. Hence, Ranko and the rest of the technical staff were forced to find a pragmatic solution to address the team’s flaws.  (Line-up against Port FC, 5 December 2024)  LCS shifted the approach and started to play with three centrebacks, retreating into a compact, low block without the ball. This made our defence extremely solid, minimizing the ground that each defender had to cover.  Down the wings, we maintained a numerical advantage on opposition wingers (e.g. an opponent’s left winger would be confronted by Hami + Lionel) without losing stability in the penalty box, which remained defended by Bailey and Toni. In the middle, Pires and Song offered good energy, with the centrebacks stepping up frequently to confront attackers receiving the ball between the lines.  Lastly, big credit also has to go to our star attackers Bart and Maxime, who had to fulfil significant defensive workloads to help maintain structural compactness for the team. (Observe how Max and Bart have dropped deep into the defensive shape, allowing Pires/Song to close down aggressively in midfield.  Also note Lionel’s body shape, preparing to jump onto the attacker with space in front of him)  In possession, the formation morphed into a 3-2-4-1, with Hami inverting from right back into central midfield, allowing Song to push forward in attack. With Hami’s distribution proving to be proficient, together with the smooth operator that is Rui Pires, the Sailors had a midfield conduit which could move the ball around the pitch confidently. In fact, I would say that one of Ranko’s biggest tactical successes was to repurpose Hami into one of the league’s most unique inverted fullbacks. There are two key reasons why this approach worked a treat, solving the Sailor’s structural weaknesses. Firstly, the midfield “box” of  Hami/Pires/Song/Bart possessed great technical qualities, allowing us to play quick combinations through the middle and work the

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[Specials] Half Cup Full

SailorFanTalk with the GOAT. And with that, the 2025 season comes to an end. Not quite, though it may feel like it for some fans. For the longest time we’ve been accustomed to SPL seasons ending around December, with the recent football calendar shift only coming into effect last season. After the highs of 24/25, this season has been underwhelming to most observers. Mixed Feelings For starters, we are out of the ACL Two, unable to replicate the high of reaching the final. This was despite drawing an easier group on paper, comprised of ASEAN sides. It was fair to consider the Sailors’ squad as one of the strongest in the group, especially after the acquisitions in the summer. Unfortunately, football rarely plays out the way we expect it to. Persib Bandung managed to improve their fortunes, finishing top after convincingly being the better side in most matches. We managed to earn 4 points against them but it was not enough as their imperious home form ensured their progress to the next round. It was a particularly tough pill to take considering the online banter that follows Persib everywhere they go, but we can take solace in our improved results against the Indonesian side. Our campaign was instead undone by our regional nemesis Bangkok United. 0 points out of 6 against our direct H2H rival was catastrophic, especially in the manner we lost the games. A single point/goal in those games would have seen us qualify ahead of them, which we belatedly managed to do in the Shopee Cup. In a funny turn of events, we have since signed Luka Adžić who scored the decisive goal in our home loss against the Bangkok Angels. Oh and a certain Kyoga Nakamura… Selangor was this group’s whipping boys, managing a solitary point against Bangkok away. This probably foreshadowed the weak showings of both clubs in MD-6. I had this to say in my previous article: Lion City Sailors beats Selangor. Bangkok United beats Persib Bandung. We brushed past the Malaysian side with relative ease, but the same could be said about Persib’s endeavours against Bangkok. It was not to be in the end, as we crashed out of the competition despite being level on points with Bangkok. Could we have done better than an early exit? Most definitely. But finishing on the same amount of points as last season is nothing to be ashamed of, as echoed by Bailey Wright on this Sports Minutes episode. The best we can do now is channel this disappointment towards future success, and that starts with the Singapore Cup final on the horizon. Allez Maxime The future successes will have to be achieved without our magician Maxime Lestienne, who left the Sailors after a fruitful 4 years. This inevitable goodbye was tough to take, especially as Max has been around for the majority of LCS’ history. I am sure many fans came to support the Sailors partly because of his excellence. I recall posting a Maxime Lestienne rap as part of my giveaway entry for our away day against Jeonbuk. That video has since been relegated to the archives of internet history. But it also led to me writing my first SailorFanTalk article back in 2023. Anyway, it is evident that Maxime has left a huge impact on everyone involved with the club. It was heartwarming to see the reception he received in his final game, with a tifo revealed before kickoff, an honour befitting of our legend. Truth be told, the game was rather uneventful in retrospect, with an early goal from Shawal taking the sting out of the two-legged tie. It would have been romantic to see Maxime register a goal involvement, and the Belgian had the best chance of the game with a penalty in the second half. Alas, he fluffed his Panenka attempt. It was indicative of his propensity to entertain, and ultimately the miss proved inconsequential. Maxime signed off with 70 goals and 97 assists, truly the best we’ve ever seen. Fans would have loved to see him continue playing till the end of the season, but given all that he has given to the Sailors over the years, it is hard to begrudge him his wish to spend more time with his family at home. It is time to look ahead and build on his legacy. We love you Maxime, we do! Mid-season Musings We are now at the most critical juncture of the season. Despite being 6 months in, the domestic league is in its relative infancy. Teams have only played 4-5 games, which means there is still 75% of the season to be decided. It is however blatantly obvious that only two teams are in contention to compete for the title, which just so happens to be the Cup final teams as well. Detractors may complain about LCS and Tampines receiving byes into the semis, but it was clear for all to see the increasing gap in quality between them and the rest of the league. Whoever wins the Cup will carry great confidence into the rest of the domestic season. For Tampines, it would embolden them on the great run of form they have been on, which includes impressive results in the ACL Two. For LCS, victory will capture the narrative and provide optimism for the games to come. Another cause for optimism is the Shopee Cup, where we still have a chance of qualification to the next round. Our main obstacle is ​​Nam Định FC, who we are due to face in our next away game. As long as we win both our final two games, we should be able to finish in second. After all, their final fixture is against the inevitable JDT. There are also possible sanctions against JDT that could be in the picture soon… That being said, we did lose 5-0 against our previous Vietnamese opponent CAHN last season. It will not be an easy away day, but with the squad

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[Specials] AWCL Group Stage Preview

International Break In more ways than one, this is going to be bittersweet. There can be a (happy) problem of having too many away days and too little time to balance things out. I’m not prepared to complain that our club and its teams have punched well above our weights and smashed through glass ceilings. Hence I’m taking a break from travelling and going for neither of the historic group stages proper for the AWCL or the destiny decider that is the ACQ in Hong Kong. Sydney and Malacca were high points of my 2025 trips that have largely revolved around football, and I’m due to travel for a much needed non-football holiday soon. Granted, it will be the last time in at least a year before the WT get to go on to the continental stage again. Over to the likes of Albirex and Still Aerion as they aim to bring greater competitiveness in the league and motivate “the others” to take things just a little more seriously while aiming for a crack at the AWCL and showing that it isn’t just us who provides the highlights and the platform for local talents to aim high. As much as the party will eventually end before the new dawn, our final flourishes in this historic 2025 will be helpful with our rebuilding in 2026 as we look back and look forward to overcoming the blips that ended our hat trick title streak. Battleground: Saigon Thong Nhat Stadium has been a fortress for HCM City last campaign, despite match attendances being 10% of its 14000+ capacity. Being one of the three stadiums spread across the country that regularly host the WNT in its internationals, its inner city location is a short hop away from the international airport to its north. Team Profiles HCM City Ami Takeuchi played against the Vietnamese champions in the last half hour of their 2-0 win by Urawa Reds, and with our newly minted Japanese ace now given a starring role far bigger than the collective defensive effort from packing the midfield, this match would go a long way to decide our progress to the knockout stages. As much as the Vietnamese league seems to be a threadbare affair, with only 6 teams battling for both the championship and dwindling attention, the Vietnamese champions can call upon the services of quite a few experienced internationals who have grown together as a unit in the years when women’s football was still under the radar. With defensive veterans Chuong Thi Kieu and Tran Thi Thu Thao holding the fort admirably with goalkeeper Tran Thi Kim Thanh, and long serving captain Tran Thi Thuy Trang still evergreen at 37 years old (with her jersey number 88 to match), the stage is set for all time WNT top scorer Huynh Nhu to add to her 2 goals from last season and add gloss to her glittering career high 69 goals in 116 international matches. Meanwhile, American-born Pakistani WNT captain Maria Khan headlines the foreign contingent in HCM City, with Tunisian international leftback Samia Aouni being another eye-catching addition to the American quartet of Aubrey Goodwill, Sakura Yoshida, Tatiana Mason and Chloe Gorman. While not much is known about the latter four, it is likely that they will play some part in the closing stages while using their most experienced heads to counter the youthful energy that our squad will present in order to stamp their authority in the midfield battle. Stallion Laguna The Philippine outfit qualified via the competitive Women’s Cup, pipping league champions Kaya IloIlo to the valuable slot. With a heavy American influence, both through their imports and also players with Filipina blood who has chosen to represent their ancestral land in elevating their emerging power status within the AFC, this is going to be one of the toughest matches other than Melbourne City The McDaniel sisters Chandler (forward) and Olivia (goalkeeper) have not just excelled on opposite ends of the field, they have even helped influence their younger brother to take his football seriously enough to be called up for the Azkals. Olivia played for the legendary Brazilian club Santos after a brief splitting of ways with her Costa Rica-bound sister after a brief stint in Austria. With the reunion of the globetrotting Californians complete, they return to the Philippines looking to translate their national team form into club action. Kaya Hawkinson is a familiar face to the more senior Lionesses, having scored the first goal in a 7-0 rout of Singapore in the 2022 AFF Women’s Championship. Yet another Californian who has chosen to don Filipina colours, her lethal combination with Chandler McDaniel upfront will be one to watch for our defences. Meanwhile, Texas born Isabella Pasion will be one to watch for the future with 17 caps at the tender age of 19, while Malia Cerdon and Rhea Chan wait patiently for their time in the sun to feature for club and country. Charisa Lemoran is also expected to have some influence in midfield, as one of the rare native Filipino born players who could hold her own against the American influx. Melbourne City It is a testament to how strong the Australian Matildas are as a squad, that Holly McNamara remains City’s most recent call up (and one of only two locally based A League Women players called up for a high profile friendly against England). Also true is when former youth internationals from abroad pitch up in Australia while the best of the locals eventually grow good enough to make the reverse trip to Europe. It won’t be long before attention from abroad falls on young prospects Alexia Apostolakis, Shelby McMahon and Bryleeh Henry, while Laura Hughes and Karly Roestbakken can call upon their European experiences (with Icelandic side Throttur and Norwegian giants Lillestrom respectively) to add an edge despite being just 24. Former Real Betis goalkeeper Malena Mieres would benefit from the guidance of player-coach and A League Women legend Melissa Barbieri

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[Specials] AWCL Preliminary Stage Preview

Given how bland our away trips in the ACL2 are going to be (Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and probably Bandung which will be a heavily secured affair), this SFT writer’s upcoming trip to Malacca will be a wildly unpredictable experience, given how uneven women’s football is developed even within regional associations, never mind the AFC. Prelude First, we at SFT would like to wish our LCSWT alumna Danelle Tan all the best with NTV Tokyo Verdy Beleza (nevermind my torn allegiances between Urawa Reds for their tifos and Sanfrecce Hiroshima because my kind SFT colleague Chin Heng blessed me with the fan edition of their Regina (Women’s Team) jersey from their infamous Germain away day). Being the only foreigner in a team otherwise full of locals, mirroring the situation of their men’s team vice-captain Matheus Vidotto, Danelle’s work ethic and application would be key in fighting for a place within a team with fully capped Nadeshikos and even seasoned professionals who wouldn’t look out of place in European teams. Which brings us to how women’s football and its development are viewed by wildly varying viewpoints within various nations. While our fledgling league contains teams that are mostly tied to clubs with well established men’s football sections, similar to Japan, Australia and continental Europe, others have to contend with limited funding and attention due to their amateur status and a disinterest towards women’s football in general by potential sponsors and well-resourced men’s clubs (out of all the K League clubs, only Suwon FC has a fully integrated women’s team within its club setup) It is also worth noting that some clubs may choose to have women-only teams due to desire for independence, forging their own organic developmental paths instead of being beholden to their male counterparts in an uneven power balance, with Still Aerion being the standard bearers of this approach in our leagues. This is particularly so when there is apathy (if not outright resistance) to the idea of organized women’s football within certain FAs, amounting to piecemeal initiatives to conform to the barest minimum that the AFC recommends. Snapdragon’s snappy Teamviewer (Glory Glory to the Hot Mess!) With the withdrawal of the Abu Dhabi CC from the group stages, the best runner up out of the 5 groups will join the 6 already qualified teams from the strongest confederations to play in the group stages. That presents a rare opportunity for the Sailors to make a strong claim for the best runner up, as 2 wins is the minimum to provide a buffer in case of a weak start against Etihad. Al Nassr, Kitchee and Naegohyang (North Korea) might also be aiming for the group stage, so a lot might boil down to fine margins, goal differences and shock draws by unheralded teams. Etihad Club Somehow, our Lionesses have a knack of drawing Jordan for both club and country, and while we may moan at the way we get beaten soundly, credit has to be given for the visionary leadership of the Jordanian Prince Ali in pushing for reforms that allow an inclusive game both domestically and within FIFA, someone who was ahead of his time in strengthening the women’s game within the Arabian peninsula. Playing away from Amman this time round after hosting the Sailors to a 5-0 defeat last season, the reigning Jordanian champions have hired English Managing Director Lizzie Fluke and Dutch trailblazer Mary Willemsen as their Manager and Technical Director. Having first started FC Twente’s women’s section and pioneering various initiatives to promote mixed team participation in the Netherlands, while mentoring future professionals via the Holland Football University, the Jordanians have laid down a marker by utilising their first mover advantage as one of the more progressive nations within the AFC for women’s football to borrow some European expertise in development. One of their more eye-catching foreign signings is young Nepalese international midfielder Preeti Rai, who has been given a rare opportunity to develop her skills in a far more competitive setting than the local league dominated by teams from the uniformed services. Mozambique international striker Cidalia Cuta will also be expected to deliver the goods in tandem with Jordanian star players Mai Sweilem and Enas al-Jamaeen, who plundered a goal each in our Lionesses’ 5-0 defeat at the AFC Women’ s Cup Qualifiers. Other than that, Etihad Club’s status as a springboard for Jordanian players past and present to aim for the bigger leagues has also borne out in their recent callups, from former striker Maysa Jbarah who is Jordan’s all time top scorer to her successor Leen Al-Btoush who will be expected to lead the line for Etihad. Meanwhile the keen competition for slots have also seen both goalkeepers Malak Shannak and Shireen al Shalabi being capped for club and country (in mirroring our situation with Beatrice Tan and Izairida Shakira), while experienced WNT campaigners Alanoud Ghazi and Zaina Hazem will be expected to feed a steady stream of chances for star finishers Mai Sweilem and Rouzbahan Fraij. As a key building block for the Jordanian WNT, Etihad will look to qualify for the Group Stages after their creditable, if ultimately futile attempt to qualify for the Asian Cup (an agonizing loss to Iran allowing their Persian rivals to take the tournament slot) Kelana United Truth be told, looking at Kelana United’s team sheet reminds us of how good we get when it comes to a functioning league, however flawed its execution. For 6 of the Indonesian WNT players who featured in the recent MSIG Cup that we declined to participate in, joining the Malaysian league in its infancy is better than not having any league action at all back home. As is endemic amongst many of our regional associations in promoting women’s football, the voices of big promises by the powers-that-be ring hollow when the willing hearts and minds cannot keep up with the physical effort required to maintain consistent engagement and gameplay. What these ladies lack in skill, they make up

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[Specials] The 2025/26 SPL Preview

The SPL season finally starts in a few days with the Community Shield, and just like most teams in the SPL, the SailorFanTalk squad has had a bit of a revamp too, with several writers, editors, and interviewers coming onboard. To kick off the SPL season, I invited each of our new writers to weigh in with their own SPL preview, including a short writeup discussing each team and their end-of-season SPL table prediction. Let’s hear what Ernest, Joseph Chin, Bryan, and Reuben have to say! Ernest The 25/26 season will witness many firsts, none more prominent than the foreigner matchday quota being increased to 7. This leaves 4 starting spots for our local players, and it remains to be seen how this change will impact the league and National Team set up. That being said, taking a look at how the squads are shaping up, we can make an educated guess as to how the season will pan out. Below are my thoughts, in the order of my predicted 25/26 table: 1st: Lion City Sailors FC No surprises here. The team with the most resources are likely to run away with the title, perhaps with an even bigger gap to the nearest challenger. The marquee signing on everyone’s radar is Anderson Lopes. His CV trumps most, having been the top scorer in J1 for the past 2 seasons and helping Yokohama F. Marinos to reach the 2024 ACL final. He would likely repeat his scoring antics in Singapore, but I do not foresee Tomoyuki Doi’s frankly ridiculous golden boot record being broken any time soon. LCS are less reliant on a focal centre forward to score goals, and we could well see Lopes deployed on the wings at times (with a certain Maxime Lestienne leaving in January as things stand). He can also rotate with Lennart and Shawal, more than capable of wrecking havoc in the league. We are competing on multiple fronts and minutes will inevitably have to be shared. The signing that really excites me is Tsiy Ndenge. It is acknowledged that football games are won and lost in the midfield. With Ndenge’s arrival, we have secured a player profile that promises to be game-changing. A quick google search of his name will pull up YouTube highlight reels of his time at Grasshopper Club Zurich. Capable of performing multiple roles, the German has played down Pogba comparisons. I am sure we will be proud of having our very own Ndenge. LCS should aim to be the best defence in the league again, and let our attacking talents do their thing. An expected professional job, nothing less. 2nd: Geylang International FC No Doi, no problem. Despite losing their scoring talisman, Geylang have strengthened on multiple fronts, and will likely benefit from their Eastern rivals having a transitional year. Noor Ali’s team have gone from strength to strength, finishing a respectable 3rd last season, something that has not been achieved by the club for some time now. The reason I see them pipping Tampines this year? The Eagles have chosen to recruit tried-and-tested SPL stalwarts who are upgrades on their previous personnel (bar the magnificent Doi). In comes Riku Fukashiro, Shodai Yokoyama, Kaisei Ogawa and Shuhei Hoshino. Sure, they are not capable of scoring 44 league goals each, but with the new foreigner rule in place the team should see an increase in quality on the pitch. Geylang will surely benefit from a shorter season, no continental nor regional football to contend with. Their thin squad will likely survive the season and mark an improvement on last season. 3rd: BG Tampines Rovers FC Perhaps I’m bold for predicting a bronze medal for Tampines, which essentially constitutes another trophyless season for them. Yes, LCS are sweeping the domestic treble. But why third? Transitions rarely go well at the start, and losing their head coach and marquee foreigners will hurt immediately. Even the most fervent of haters will acknowledge Gavin Lee is one of Singapore’s best coaches. Reappointing Akbar Nawas seems to be taking a few steps backward. Add to the unsavoury mix the foreign core being dismantled and I foresee a long season ahead for the Stags. Tampines really trailed off during the new year, and that was after their unceremonious ACL2 elimination. With the added distraction of the ACC Club Championship –  affectionately known as the Shopee Cup, this new squad will likely struggle to perform right out the blocks. Is my bias speaking against them? Probably. But logic dictates fundamental changes will take some getting used to, and by the time this happens the other 2 clubs would have pulled clear. Trent Buhagiar would be a familiar name to A-League observers, and will definitely add a new dimension to their fresh attack with his pace and dynamism. Looking elsewhere, they have recruited from the Japanese football ecosystem to plug the gaps left by Seia, Kyoga and Milos. Quality players they might be and become, but the multitude of factors mentioned above will contribute to their slight regression this year. 4th: Albirex Niigata (S) It was not too long ago that the Japanese feeder club dominated Singaporean football. Then they went “local” and went through a slump and drop in standards, even culminating in the dismissal of the popular Kazuaki Yoshinaga. It has been an entire season since, the dust has settled, and the foreign outfit has learnt the effects of parity.  The additional foreign starting spot next season should provide a welcome boost to the six-time SPL champions, who have once again recruited from Japanese outfits. This formula has worked wonders for them throughout their prolific stint in Singaporean football, and the White Swans seem to be one of the teams that would benefit most from the rule changes. A competitive Albirex can only be a good thing for the league. 5th: Tanjong Pagar United FC Disclaimer: this preview was written after Aaron Evans’ feature on Sports Minutes. He spoke of the Jaguars’ ambitions to finish second

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[Specials] All Hands on Deck, we’re Running It Back – ACL2 Group Stage Draw

While Sailors won the domestic League and Cup double just a few months ago, there is no doubt that it was our fairytale ACL2 run that captured the imagination of football fans in Singapore, and perhaps even  in the rest of Asia as well. Could we defy all odds yet again to run it back and make another final, or even go one step further in this year’s edition?  As we approach the ACL2 group stage draw happening on 15th Aug, I thought this ACL2 preview article would be a good time to run through our potential opponents in this tournament, as well as the draw mechanics and rules for newer fans who may not be familiar with how this competition works. ACL2 Tournament Rules and Draw Mechanics Previously known as the AFC Cup, the second-tier AFC continental competition was rebranded as the AFC Champions League Two (ACL2) in 2024. Unlike the AFC cup, the ACL2 includes clubs from the top nations in Asian Football such as Japan and Korea, and features 32 teams, the most number of teams across AFC club competitions. The tournament is split into East and West regions, with 16 participating clubs each, and the competition remains separated by region until the final where the East and West finalists will meet. The 16 clubs of each region will be seeded into 4 Pots, and 4 groups of 4 teams will be drawn with each group having 1 team from each Pot. 14 of the 16 teams in the East have been confirmed, with the last 2 slots going to the losing team in the ACL Elite qualifying playoff (between Chengdu Rongcheng and Bangkok United) and the winner of the ACL2 qualifying playoff (between Manila Digger and Persib), to be played on 12th and 13th August respectively, just before the ACL2 draw on 15th August. Sailors are rumoured to be in Pot 3 despite our heroics in last season’s ACL2, as the seedings are mostly based on AFC club competitions rankings, which assigns points to each country based on results in the last 8 years, with more recent seasons holding a higher weightage. While Singapore outscored the likes of Vietnam, China, and Australia last season, the lack of success in previous years mean that we are still ranked 15th among AFC member associations. Hopefully, with consistent performances in the coming seasons, we’ll be able to see Sailors in a higher seeding or even get an ACLE slot in the not-too-distant future. For now though, Sailors will probably be the team every other team is looking to avoid out of Pot 3. The full (rumoured) Pots are as follows: Country protection is in place for the group stage draw, meaning no 2 teams from the same country can be drawn into the same group. This has some implications on our chances of drawing certain teams in other Pots, as we’ll cover in the next section. Upon completion of the ACL2 draw on 15th Aug, our 6 group stage games will be played on the following dates: According to the AFC Competition Operations Manual, our match sequence for the 6 matchdays should be: vs Pot 2 (H), vs Pot 4 (A), vs Pot 1 (A), vs Pot 1 (H), vs Pot 2 (A), and vs Pot 4 (H). However, take this with a huge pinch of salt as there seems to be some discretion in the scheduling, and AFC does not always follow this format. Furthermore, Straits Times also recently reported that FAS is in discussions with AFC for our first group stage game to be an away game, since Bishan Stadium would not be ready in time. Potential Group Stage Opponents Our potential group stage opponents are listed below, sorted by Pots and listed according to their Opta ranking, which should give a rough sense of the relative team strength. Tampines as well as teams from Pot 3 are excluded as it is not possible to draw them in the group stage. For reference, LCS are currently ranked 1172 in the Opta rankings (as of 2 Aug 2025), with a rating of 69.9 (nice), and an estimated team value of €9.15 million according to Transfermarkt. Pot 1 The Pot 1 teams represent the biggest threat to our knockout stage hopes, not just because they are the strongest teams in the competition, but partly also due to potentially harsh weather conditions of away games in China/Japan/Korea. This is especially so if the game happens to be on Matchday 4/5/6, when the weather starts to get cold in these countries as winter approaches. If Bangkok United ends up losing their ACLE qualifier, the probability of us drawing them will be marginally higher compared to the other teams in Pot 1, as they cannot draw Ratchaburi in Pot 3 due to country protection, so Sailors are 1 of their 3 possible opponents out of this Pot. Gamba Osaka On paper the hardest team we can possibly draw for the group stage, Gamba Osaka will be heavy favorites to make the ACL2 final on the East side of the bracket (although the favorites to win ACL2 will no doubt be Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr. Yes, playing in the same tournament as LCS).Currently mid-table in the J League and already knocked out of the Emperor’s Cup, winning the ACL2 represents their best chance of getting back into continental competition next season. The club has 2 J1 titles and an Asian Champions League win, and has an experienced squad featuring several players that have made the step up to the Japanese National Team, including forward and club captain Takashi Usami, center back and vice-captain Shinnosuke Nakatani, and 39-year old veteran goalkeeper Masaaki Higashiguchi. Avoiding Gamba Osaka in the draw will significantly boost our chances of getting out of the group, although drawing them also represents an opportunity to benchmark ourselves against the best in East Asia (and also a fantastic away day destination, heh). Pohang Steelers The Steel Yard is home to former

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[Specials] The SFT Awards – An SPL End-of-Season Review

About 1.5 years ago, after the 2023 SPL season ended, Eddy and I had a conversation about a somewhat ambitious project. We were both frustrated at the lack of publicly available SPL statistics, and it seemed like the only way to fix this was to do it ourselves. The SPL statistics page still shows nothing more than a string of error code, and while we were somewhat certain that some SPL clubs had access to data, that was meant for performance analysis and of no use to fans because it was not publicly available. So with our non-existent coding skills and endless desire to watch football, we created our own spreadsheet and started manually tracking stats for every single SPL game in the 2024/25 season, for use in SailorFanTalk articles. After 13 months (and countless hours) of scouring through match replays and Sofascore data to manually input SPL stats, we now have a full data set of the league season, and in conjunction with the SPL Awards Night happening tonight, we thought it would be appropriate to do an end-of-season review in the form of handing out our own ‘Awards’ to deserving teams and players, based on the 2024/25 SPL statistics. Team Awards The Justice Table We first talked about the Justice Table back in my mid-season review article, where we use raw xG data to carry out simulations of match outcomes and assign expected points to each team in each game. After all 32 games, BG Tampines Rovers emerges on top of our Justice Table, 8.13 points ahead of Lion City Sailors. AIA Justice Table League Winner – BG Tampines Rovers POLAR MINERAL WATER Best Defence (least xG conceded) –BG Tampines Rovers SINGAPORE POOLS Best Attack (highest xG) – Lion City Sailors (Sponsors chosen at random to reflect SPL Awards Night as closely as we could hehe) Set-Piece Specialists Set pieces are very much a critical component of the modern game, with set piece coaches a common sight at many professional clubs. The following teams were able to make the most of their set piece routines. 1. BG Tampines Rovers 2. Geylang International 3. Lion City Sailors/ Balestier Khalsa Youth Development – Most U21 Players Played in SPL Youth development is critical to the success of the football ecosystem in any country, and the following teams promoted the most players from their U21 team into the first team (either due to their trust in youth or lack of funds/squad depth, I’m not judging). 1. Tanjong Pagar 2. Geylang International 3. Lion City Sailors Individual Awards The following section covers the top performers on several key attacking metrics, most of which are self-explanatory, as well as the top shot stoppers in the league this season. Most Goal Contributions (Goals + Assists) per 90min (min. 180 mins played) 1. Tomoyuki Doi (Geylang International) 2. Lennart Thy (Lion City Sailors) 3. Maxime Lestienne (Lion City Sailors) Talisman (Highest % involvement in the Team’s Goals) These players have been key to their team’s success this season, having scored or assisted the highest percentage of goals scored by the team. 1. Tomoyuki Doi (Geylang International) 2. Dejan Racic (Hougang United) 3. Shingo Nakano (Albirex Niigata Singapore) Highest xG per 90min (min. 180 min played) In a season where Tomoyuki Doi seemingly broke the xG model by scoring hat-tricks for fun, a couple of other players actually generated a more significant goal threat for their team compared to Doi. (on a side note, I fully expect Doi’s goal tally to revert to the mean next season ahead of his rumoured move to Thai League 1) 1. Lennart Thy (Lion City Sailors) 2. Kodai Tanaka (Balestier Khalsa) 3. Tomoyuki Doi (Geylang International) Highest xG per Shot (min 10 shots) Many surprising names on the list, but these players generated the highest average xG for each of their shots, indicating their propensity to get into high quality goalscoring positions. 1. Hazzuwan Halim (Hougang United) 2. Akram Azman (Lion City Sailors) 3. Abdul Rasaq (Lion City Sailors) Highest % Shots on Target (min 10 shots) Again, several interesting names. These players managed to get most of their shots on target instead of blasting them into the swimming pool, forcing the opposing keeper to at least make the save. 1. Taufik Suparno (BG Tampines Rovers) 2. Shakir Hamzah (Geylang International) 3. Ismail Sassi (Balestier Khalsa) Best Shot-Stopper (among keepers with at least 5 games played) The Goals Conceded/xGOT stat acts as a measure of a keeper’s shot stopping skills. Expected Goals on Target (xGOT) is slightly different from the xG. A xGOT value is only assigned to shots that are on target, and the value is largely based on the location of the goal where the shot ended up at. A shot with 0.8 xGOT basically means that the shot ends up as a goal 80% of the time, while the keeper saves it 20% of the time. A summation of xGOT across all the shots would give a number which represents the number of goals an average keeper would concede over that series of shots, and a ratio of Actual Goals Conceded/Cumulative xGOT then provides a metric to judge if a keeper is over or under performing. A Goals Conceded/xGOT ratio of <1 would mean that the keeper conceded less goals than the average keeper facing the same type of shots. 1. Kristijan Naumovski (Brunei DPMM) 2. Izwan Mahbud (Lion City Sailors) 3. Haimie Nyaring (Brunei DPMM) Moments This section is dedicated to the most memorable games and moments throughout the 2024/25 season, many of which coincidentally involve Balestier Khalsa and their keeper Hafiz Ahmad. Biggest xG Miss In the 2024/25 season, the highest xG shot that did not result in a goal was by Obren Kljajic, in the 17th minute of the game between Lion City Sailors and Balestier Khalsa on 14th May 2025. After Bart’s freekick came off the crossbar, Balestier keeper Hafiz Ahmad was already lying on the ground, presenting Obren with an open

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[Specials] The Justice Table – an SPL Mid-Season Review by Chin Heng

Just as we are about to embark on the 2nd half of the 2024/25 SPL season, I thought it would be a good opportunity to do a mid-season statistical review of Sailors’ performances so far, and attempt to provide some insights into what we can expect in the 2nd half of the season. If you have read recent SFT articles, you would have realized that Eddy and I have been manually tracking SPL stats from this season (because nobody else seems to be doing it). Now that we have half a season worth of data, we can attempt to draw some meaningful conclusions from this data set through developing a ‘Justice Table’. (Editor’s note: Please note also that xG stats are taken from sofascore.com – Chin Heng painstakingly tracks them every game to come up with this table) Justice Table – Simi Lai Eh? Football is a low-scoring, high-variance game where the better team doesn’t always win. There is a lot of luck involved in each game, so the actual SPL table contains plenty of ‘noise’. Unlucky finishing, a bad offside call, or an unfortunate deflection all have an impact on the actual result of a game. What we attempt to do with the Justice Table is to remove such variance from the equation and find out what the league table would look like in a world where teams were ranked based on their performances alone. Methodology As we demonstrated in earlier articles, it is possible to do a Monte Carlo Simulation of each match using raw xG data of each shot that occurred in the game. In order to generate a Justice Table from xG data: What is xG? xG is essentially just the probability of a goal being scored from a particular shot, hence using xG to generate a league table removes the element of luck from a result. In our last game against Tampines, Shawal scored from 2 chances of 0.04 and 0.12 xG respectively, allowing us to escape with a point. However, simulations showed that we were extremely lucky to get anything from the game, with Tampines winning 87.3% of simulations and a draw occurring only 10.2% of the time. On another day, those 2 Shawal chances could have gone wide or be saved by the keeper and we would now be level on points with Tampines. Note that there are some flaws in the xG metric, most notably that it ignores the game state. A team that scores a goal early on may choose to sit back and defend that lead, inevitably generating less xG for the rest of the game and conceding more xG, making the game appear closer than it actually was. The xG concept also assumes that all players have roughly the same finishing ability, and what differentiates a good striker from an average one is their ability to get themselves into positions of good xG quality in the first place. However, this model still passes the ‘eye test’ as we often expect to see better teams dominating a game by generating more and better-quality chances, which in turn accumulates higher xG and expected points to quantify their dominance. Results With the methodology outlined above, the 2024/25 mid-season Justice table looks like this: Some observations: Conclusion I think we can expect the title race to go all the way to the last few games of the season, with Tampines unfortunately being slight favourites despite being 2nd in the league right now. However, there are still a number of variables that could alter the equation for the 2nd half of the season: fatigue from continental games and the AFF championship, mid-season transfers, and squad depth could all play an important role in how the rest of the season shapes up. (Editor’s Note: An interesting point to note also is how Tampines makes use of the extra foreigner slot when Kyoga becomes Singaporean and thus frees up a slot. If they have the budget to get someone with true quality, things might be interesting) Hopefully, when 24th May 2025 rolls around, it will be the team in blue lifting the SPL trophy! (Editor’s Note: EH OH EH OH) Written by Tan Chin Heng Edited by Eddy Hirono If you’d like to support the work we do here at SailorFanTalk, you may want to visit https://ko-fi.com/sailorfantalk and leave us a tip!

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[Specials] What’s in a Song? Champions in Blue – From my POV

If you haven’t watched the video for Champions in Blue yet, here you go! Clubs working with artists to come up with songs is not a new phenomenon. When you think of club, and you think of song, your mind immediately goes to “You’ll Never Walk Alone“. It is perhaps the most famous example of an anthem being sung aloud by fans before games. That song is tied to Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund, and Celtic, among others, and I don’t know about you, even though I don’t support any of those clubs, hearing it sung out loud does send chills down my spine. In fact, that song is so tied to Liverpool’s identity that those very words of the title are written in wrought iron on the gates of Anfield Stadium. A Song Written Specifically For a Club However, of course, that song was written as a tune from a musical on Broadway, and so it wasn’t birthed as a football song. It wasn’t until Gerry and the Pacemakers (a Merseyside band) did a cover version in the 1960s that it became adopted by Liverpool as their anthem. So are there examples of songs written specifically for a club? Sure, there are. Let’s start right at home (and with a dash of Japan). Hougang Hools recorded “Hougang Sampai Mati“ (Malay for “Hougang Til’ I Die“) and the song has a lot of edge, with a super catchy chorus. Composed and performed by the fans, it combines rock, emotion, and a dash of humour. It is played during Hougang home games at the final whistle. Geylang International FC have “We Are the Mighty Eagles“. This was also performed by a fan called Remy, who describes himself as a new fan of the club. It is catchy in parts and just like Hougang Sampai Mati, you will hear it over the speakers at GIFC games. And then now on to Japan – Albirex Niigata have my personal favourite, “Believe”. I like the song so much I even left this comment there sometime back – Oops, please don’t lynch me, but it’s a proper rock track with anime vibes, mixed in with crowd chants to really give it that stadium feel. Albirex in Singapore of course use this song as well, playing it at their home games to get the atmosphere going. It’s fair to say that music has long had that power to get the crowd excited and hyped up for a game. It can also be a tremendous bonding tool, uniting a bunch of strangers in song. The Crew had thus long thought about writing a song, but we were short on inspiration. If you ever meet me in person, I’d be happy to show you some early drafts we came up with, which pale in comparison to “Champions in Blue“. So how did this song come about? Let me tell the story from my POV. A Long Long Time Ago – There Was Brandon Khoo The title is not a dig at Brandon Khoo’s age. Though facts are facts, he is old. But this is an important section of the article. You’ll see. Before I talk about how the club approached me to discuss possibly getting a song done, I have to introduce yall to Brandon Khoo. Who is Brandon Khoo, you ask? Well click the link and find out! He’s basically Singapore’s best drummer la huh. When I first saw Brandon Khoo in the stands of a Sailors game sometime back, I remember thinking to myself that he looked really familiar. But I just couldn’t place his face. This would happen a few times. One day, I was scrolling through my tiktok feed when I came across a drumming livestream. This big ol’ dude was taking requests from people and providing drumming accompaniment to those requests. I would have scrolled past, but he hung a Lion City Sailors scarf on the wall, so I stayed. He would then also talk a bit about the song, chat a bit with his followers, etc. I found it very fascinating. It was like listening to a radio show, except the DJ not only put in the tunes, he would also drum along. Amazing. I spoke to him in the stands a few more times when I saw him at games. And all this time, I didn’t figure out the mystery of why he looked so familiar. Then one day it clicked – he used to be the drummer for Shirlyn + The UnXpected, a famous local band that did a lot of gigs around the pubs of Singapore. As a teenager that enjoyed listening to live music, I saw him around several times. It was so obvious yet it escaped me for so long. Brandon also was the drummer for many of the Mandopop tunes I grew up with. Brandon and I would get to know each other a lot better, and would bond over shared music taste. He called me an “old soul”, I didn’t reply because I felt it would be rude to point out it wasn’t just his soul that was old. We got along musically, and footballingly, and that’s all that matters. The stage was set for the next development. The Approach from the Club So after the abortive attempts at writing a song for the Crew, the club approached me 2 months ago (yes, all this was done in 2months). “Champions in Blue” did not exist 2 months ago. Let that sink in. A certain Brandon Khoo was in attendance as well. The club wanted a song that all Sailors fans could be proud of, something to rally us all. I’m not a songwriter and had previously only written one song before, so Brandon’s presence was obviously crucial. The club wanted Brandon to lead the project because not only is he a good musician, he is also a true fan, which makes it more meaningful. That, and also because of his extensive contacts from all across the

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[Specials] The ACL2 Draw – Who Are Lion City Sailors Likely to Draw?

The ACL2 draw is upon us. I took it quite literally in the image for this article. It is an exciting time that some of us Sailors fans have been saving up our annual leave for. The ACL2 draw brings with it the glamour of an overseas tie in places as varied as Sydney, Manila, Zhejiang, and Hiroshima. The allure of a continental match doesn’t just bring with it a small dose of national pride, it also allows us to travel and experience different cultures, as can be seen from our previous trips to South Korea and Hong Kong, to name two examples. So who are we likely to draw? Should we be hoping to be saying Konnichiwa to friendly Japanese strangers, or are we much more likely to be saying sawadeekhrap? We answer that question in this article. What the Math Appears to Be Looking at the pots like that, it would seem that for any given team in Pot 1, Pot 2, and Pot 4, we have a 25% chance of drawing any of them, and a 0% chance of drawing anyone from Pot 3. However, there are some qualifiers that change the probability a little. Country Protection Now, let’s get the obvious out of the way, country protection rules means that we cannot draw Tampines Rovers in Pot 4. So that means automatically, on the surface it looks like the probability of drawing any of the Pot 4 teams goes from 25% to 33%, with Tampines out of the picture as we cannot draw them. However, there are still some qualifiers to talk about – still related to country protection. Given that LCS is in a Pot with Muangthong United, Kaya Iloilo and Lee Man, it also makes it more likely that we will draw Dynamic Herb Cebu or Eastern United from Pot 4, as compared to our chances of drawing Persib Bandung. I’ll try my best to explain this, but this is because we already have a team from HK and Philippines in our Pot. Thus, it is more likely that if another group has drawn Lee Man from Pot 3 for example, it cannot draw Eastern, thus increasing the chance for Eastern to be in other groups containing the Sailors. Country protection also comes to the fore when you notice that each of Pot 1, 2, and 3 have a Thai team. It makes it highly likely that we will draw a Thai team, so fans of Tom Yam and cheap massages, rejoice! S.O.S (A Call for Help, not the Outdated Tournament that We Somehow Still Participate In) Now, if you, like me, didn’t feel that all that made a lot of sense, then you just have to trust the code drawn up by one of my friends, Raghu, who will probably kill me for saying this, but he is a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford Department of Physics. He is probably much better at me at all these science-y, math-y stuff. Do check him out if you are interested in his papers such as “An elementary quantum network of entangled optical atomic clocks” and “Quantum amplification of mechanical oscillator motion“. So anyway, he spent an hour writing some code for me, and we thus have the probability table you see below of us drawing any of the opponents from each Pot. The Probability Table Putting all the assumptions and rules together, this is how likely we are to draw each opponent from each Pot. As you can see, our chances of meeting a Thai opponent are very high, while a trip to Indonesia for Pot 4 looks less likely than a trip to Cebu or Hong Kong. Conclusion Probability is one thing, but where’s the fun in following the science all the time? Footyrankings Draw Simulator – this is the link where you can have some fun simulating over and over again who we are likely to meet. I tried it and got this abomination – Please, God, no. That would make it Shopee Cup x 2 for us this year. Let’s hope the draw brings us at least one Japanese/Korean/Australian team! Written by Eddy Hirono If you’d like to support the work we do here at SailorFanTalk, you may want to visit https://ko-fi.com/sailorfantalk and leave us a tip!

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