Next year sees a Singapore team competing in the Malaysia Super League, a throwback to the times when they competed in the prestigious Malaysia Cup fondly remembered by fans of that generation.
The Singapore Lions is a team being specially built to compete north of the causeway, the season starts in January, and is being slowly, almost painfully, put together piece by piece.

Read a tweet from my timeline that goes like this before the Indonesia-Malaysia SEA Games match after the Cubs defeated the supposedly perennial powerhouses Thailand 2-0.

"This is e first (and probably will be e only) time a 2-0 win over Thailand feels like a defeat..."

Can't blame that sense of pessimistic when the Cubs initially failed in achieving the target that mammoth task of four goals against the Thais because the goal difference between them and the Malaysians, whom they defeated the hosts to progress to the semi-finals.

Like mentioned, I did not get to see the match that Cubs lost to the Indonesians due to work.
However, here's the Youtube clip of the match via a Vietnamese broadcaster.
General thoughts of the game gathered online lauded the performance of the Singapore side for keeping the scoreline respectable especially with their performance in the second half, after conceding two goals and a player sent off (Nigel Vanu)in the first half.

Two contrasting emotions depicted in the picture snapped off the television after the game with a grim-looking Cambodian's Korean coach Lee Tae-Hoon (top half of the picture) pondering what could have gone wrong after two straight defeats in Jakarta.
While his counterpart Sloban Pavkovic (below half) breathe a sight of relieve having see the Cubs came back from a goal deficit to beat the Khmers 2-1 in the near-empty Senayan with headers from Khairul Nizam and Nigel Vanu.

Firdaus Idros being called up to LionsIn a media release announced just hours ago by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), national coach Raddy Avaramovic added two more uncapped players into the 21-men squad that are due to face Jordan (away) and China (home) next month in their upcoming World Cup qualifiers.

Those three emicons at the end of the tweet message (prt-screen above) was my initiate reaction when the news confirmed that the National Under 23 squad or the Cubs are drawn into the "Group of DEATH" of the biennial games to be held in Indonesian capital Jakarta.
After all, we are up against the defending champions Malaysia and regional powerhouses Thailand (whom we defeated just weeks ago in a friendly), host nation Indonesia and Cambodia.

How frustrated can it be again?
Despite all the hindrances facing the National Under-23 squad in their preparation for the upcoming SEA Games, the local game authority boldly set a "final" target for the Cubs.
Nothing wrong for being ambitious, as it departs from the usual modest target to settle for a "semi-final" in the biennial games even if we had our best squad in the past capable for the elusive gold.

The San Francisco Giants are desperate to find their footing in time to reach the 2011 baseball postseason. As it stands, the 2010 World Series champions are six games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West. Their latest move was to release a pair of veterans in Aaron Rowand and Miguel Tejada.

Or, Avoiding Cubs syndrome: what the Fire must do for the rest of this season to prepare for the next.

While the Fire are not yet mathematically out of contention for a playoff spot, let's be honest: it's not going to happen. Fans were spun around on this carousel every week last season when every disappointing result came with a headline on the Fire homepage about how the playoffs were still in reach.

‪In the Under 17 World Cup Maximiliano Padilla gave Argentina an early lead.Raheem Sterling equalised before halftime.Jordan Pickford,saved two penalties in the shootout at the end and set up a quarter final with Germany for the 3 Young Lions . er cubs.

Another season draws to a close. A season that had begun with the fans believing anything was possible is ending with blatant dissatisfaction among many of the supporters and a vociferous angry minority demanding the departure of Wenger.

As a long-term supporter, it is difficult not to be amused by the appearance of the gathering anger clouds.

Chicago Fire Director of Ticket Sales Mike Ernst was kind enough to spend some time with HTIOT to answer some questions about the success of season ticket sales around the stadium for 2011. We've already reported on how Section 8 is up to 800 season tickets (and the latest count is up to 922). Non Section-8 season ticket sales are up 100% too.

The Chicago Fire's Davis Paul was kind enough to answer some questions I had for him recently. I was interested to hear how this San Diego born, LA area raised player was adjusting to a new city and a new position. Paul played a withdrawn forward in college but as discussed in an earlier formation post, coach Carlos de los Cobos is playing him on the left wing so far.

me, as a photographer shooting match pictures at a sunset timing of 5pm, at least (the constant need to adjust the setting according to the lighting was so taxing).
I need to crop and sharpen the image of the shot above
Honestly speaking, based on where I MUST be positioned (close to the corner flag) during the opening match of this new season, I think I'm not in the right position to pass any rating of this game between Courts Young Lions and SAFFC.

Let's not kid ourselves here.
We were never looked comfortable with the ball, as compared to the Malaysians in the first half.
Midfielder Irfan Fazail (number 7) triggered the scoreboard in the 23rd minute
While some fans were hoping the plastic surface of Jalan Besar would give the Cubs some advantages, but it was never the case.

Was at the pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow's friendly match between Singapore's Olympic squad and their Malaysian counterparts.
Making their presence were Singapore coach Raddy Avramovic and his Malaysian counterpart Ong Kim Swee, as well as Cubs' captain Afiq Yunos and Mohd Affize Faisal, the vice-captain of the Harimau Muda.