It wasnt exactly one of those classic match between Singapore and Malaysia in the game of football, nor there was an evident 'bookie feeling' or the 'kelong' chants among the supporters of both fans at the Jalan Besar Stadium last night. But 'synthetically' speaking, the nostalgic rivalry between Malaysian and Singaporean football are definitely back!
On a journalistic view, the match could be described as a tensed and topsy turvy affair filled with eight snapshot goals, two red cards and a potentially serious crowd trouble at the terrace between Harimau Malaya's Ultras and Singapore's Lions roar . Singapore came back twice to beat Malaysia 5-3 to finally take a 2 goal cushion di Stadium Nasional Bukit Jalil, on Thursday. "We play on grass too,' quipped Singapore defender Daniel Bennett to quickly point that Singapore are in a good position to qualify for the Asian final group rounds.
Except for the minor skirmishes between a small group of rival fans during and after the game which was finely dealt with by the Singapore police, the Malaysia-Singapore match on Saturday was still lacking the 'derby' or 'causeway' football spirit of the glorious Malaysia Cup days of the 70's, 80's and the early 90's. Personally I felt somewhat sub-dued, easily succumbed by the "long time no see" relationship between Malaysia and Singapore as soon as I met up with former coach of the Lions, Mr Jitta Singh at the VIP lounge of the Jalan Besar Stadium that night. Jitta, who also brought Singapore stars, T Pathmanathan and R Suriamurthi to Pahang when he was appointed manager of the Malaysian state team in mid-80's, is one of the republic's football personality which represents the unique spirit of Malaysian-Singaporean football that started long ago during the early Malaya Cup days in the 1930's, 1940's, and 1950's! Of course my 'arwah' father, Atan bin Mohamed, was the one who gave me the first insights of the great Singapore football stories. I can still remember some of the stories about the the great Awang Bakar, Dol Fattah, Choo Seng Que (Uncle Choo) and Majid Ariff that my father use to tell me when I was a boy. Stadium Jalan Besar too has it's legendary stories about great matches, fabolous players and astonishing goals. Soh Chin Aun, Mokhtar Dahari, R Arumugam and their Selangor team continued those stories from our Malaysian side by stamping their supremacy over Singapore in their Malaysia Cup duels of the 1970's and 1980's.
However the Malaysia-Singapore football rivalry was not really felt at Jalan Besar Stadium despite the loud singing by both fans. Obviously, the 6,000 crowd at Jalan Besar now is so much smaller than the 45,000 capacity crowd of Merdeka Stadium or the 60,000 fans that would fill the National Stadium in Kallang when Singapore play Malaysia (or Selangor) in an official match.
Or perhaps, the 'derby' of 'causeway' football spirit is gone because almost half of the Singapore team are 'foreigners'! Yes, that is a pretty quick and good reason.. No matter how hard they try, Singaporeans will always find it difficult to honestly relate Duric, Mustafic, Qiu Li (China), Bennet or Shi Jiayi, as one of their own. Remember Fandi Ahmad, Quah Kim Song, V Sundram Moorthy, or even Eric Paine? Well, that sounds and feel truly Singaporean!
Taking a 2-goal cushion to Bukit Jalil would give the Lions a certain degree of self-belief when they take on Malaysia in the second leg, second round Asian qualifiers for the 2014 Fifa World Cup. But they will be treading on a tight-rope in front of the expected 70,000 crowd who will relish to witness the Lions bruised and tamed at Stadium Nasional on Thursday. Never mind the nostalgic derby or causeway football spirit....
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