The Straits Times Blogs - Abdul Hafiz

Singapore gets slapped by Fifa

2009-07-17T08:53:00Z

Abdul Hafiz wonders why only second tier football teams get to play at the YOG.

SO WHAT does Singapore get for spending more than $150 million on the first Youth Olympic Games? A slap from Fifa.

The world body has made pity the qualifying criteria for the YOG's football tournament.

The event will host just 12 teams — six girls and six boys, making it even less of a spectacle than the tune-up Asian Youth Games, which had 14.

Now Fifa ruled that only nations that "have never, or rarely, had the opportunity to participate in Olympic Games or World Cups" will get to play.

So the Singapore audience will be asked to fill stadiums for the chance to watch Under-15 teams from places like Vanuatu, Zimbabwe, Equatorial Guinea and Papua New Guinea (the first is in Africa, the other Oceania) play in what a colleague has labelled the Bleeding Heart Games.

The question is whether YOG organisers, FAS and the International Olympic Committee will stand for this. Since when did teams qualify for a major games because of how bad they are?

There probably are negotiations going on behind the scenes. Just check the YOG website.

Each of the other 25 sports have their qualification system set down. For football, it's TBD (to be determined), even though Fifa's selection process was made public a month ago.

One post in another forum has thoughtfully pointed out that the YOG may be a pawn in a bigger battle between Fifa and the IOC.

Fifa will do everything to make sure nothing takes away from the lustre of the cash cow that is the World Cup, from which it gets 95 per cent of its revenue, and even their Under-20 and Under-17 tournaments.

Which is why it wants to change the Olympics contest from an under-23 to under-21 format, and throw out the rule that allows teams to field three overaged players, ie. more established stars.

The IOC does not want its tournament to become irrelevant. So president Jacques Rogge has warned that any fiddling may end up with football being thrown out of the London 2012 Games.

Reducing the YOG to a tournament of minnows may have been Fifa's way of hitting back.

Depending on how this saga ends, it will cost at least a few broken hearts.

Consider Vanuatu.

For those who have not Wikied this yet, this is a young country that found independence in 1980, that is made up of 82 volcanic islands some 7,400km to the southeast of Singapore, with a population of 215,000 who speak Bislama, sing Yumi, Yumi, Yumi (their national anthem) and harvest the mild narcotic Kava, which when consumed, produces euphoria.

Their men's football team is ranked 141 out of 203 in the world, higher than Malaysia, but lower than Singapore.

The Oceania Football Confederation has already been trumpeting Vanuatu's selection to the YOG, claiming it will "thrive on the opportunity to test themselves against the world's best".

Best is not the right word, but the kids must have been elated when told about the Singapore trip, a chance to prove that they do deserve a place at the first YOG.

So what happens if Fifa is persuaded to change their minds? Who's going to tell these boys from Vanuatu, from Cuba, from Zimbabwe, these girls from Iran, from Trinidad, from Chile that their invitations have been cancelled?

What do you think YOG officials should do?

The carrot is better than the stick

2009-03-11T22:15:00Z

Abdul Hafiz Abdul Samad says Benitez should drop his hard act.

IT HAS to be infuriating to be a Liverpool fan. One night, they are hammering Real Madrid 4-0 or beating Manchester United 2-0, another night they are losing 0-2 to Middlesbrough, or drawing 2-2 to Hull.

They go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows, sometimes in the same week.

What is their problem? Warring American owners, Rafael Benitez's obsessive tinkering, a lack of depth - so many excuses have been offered. I am struck by one thing though.

After Yossi Benayoun's header beat Real Madrid at the Bernabeu two weeks ago, he said: "It was madness in our changing rooms. Everyone was screaming and shouting — except the manager, of course.

"He didn't even congratulate us or shake hands, never mind join in all the hugs and backslapping. But that's just how he is. He won't stand for any of us getting carried away or feeling we are superior to anyone else.

"He didn't say a word to me about the goal. He likes keeping you on your toes. He only announced the team two hours before kick-off."

But maybe that is what is missing - a sense of superiority, the kind that Manchester United take into every match.

The kind that Liverpool's greatest manager Bill Shankly imbued into his side, and made rivals believe it, as he turned ordinary players into worldbeaters.

There are only two top teams in Merseyside, he once famously said - Liverpool and Liverpool reserves.

He never missed an opportunity to build up the confidence of his players, even when he was telling them off.

Defender Tommy Smith recalled: "When I thought I was good enough for the first team, I marched into his office to ask when I would be getting a game. He told me my time would come but in such a way that I came out of the office thinking I was the best thing since sliced bread."

Shankly would tell his team they were playing a side doomed for relegation. After the win, he would tell Liverpool players that they had just beaten the second best team in the world.

Once, when as Liverpool players waited to be told which United players they will mark in a game, Shankly took the Subbuteo-figures of Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and George Best off the model pitch and into his pocket. They were United's three best players but Shankly said: "Don't worry about them, they can't play at all."

His players believed and dominated English football.

Benitez should just drop his hard act, embrace his players and build their confidence. That may be the difference between him and Alex Ferguson.

Benitez seems to value his tactics above players, while Ferguson puts players first.

I know for whom I would rather work.

Drugs and the sportsmen

2009-02-15T07:03:00Z

Abdul Hafiz on how drugs can, and have, ruined high-flying sports careers.

I FEEL sorry for Michael Phelps, and not because he went bonkers.

Here is a man, who at age 23, has reached the absolute peak of his sport.

Everything he goes on to do in the pool will only be a footnote to his eight-gold feat at the Beijing Olympics.

It's all downhill from now for Phelps. How do you motivate yourself knowing that?

Maybe that explains why he is willing to let his career go to pot.

But he still needs to keep a clean image to earn the millions sponsors are willing to splash for his face and name.

The man-fish was stupid to smoke marijuana, and stupid to do it in full-view of a party filled with camera phones.

But at least he did not lie about it, or cheated. He has never failed a drugs test, in or out of competition.

Alex Rodriguez, however, is a cheat and a liar. The biggest name in American baseball, a three time MVP who has a staggering US$250 million contract with the New York Yankees, only admitted that he took steroids from 2001 through 2003 after Sports Illustrated presented the evidence of a failed drugs test.

I was stupid, I was under pressure, the truth has set me free, he said. But all we should remember were the stone-faced denials he gave when previously asked if he had ever taken performance enhancing drugs.

Major League Baseball is also complicit. Rodriguez's name was leaked from a secret list of 104 players who tested positive for banned substances in 2003.

One hundred and four. That is staggering.

The MLB must have realised the extent that steroids had taken a hold of America's favourite past time. But it did little. As players got stronger, illegally, and home run numbers increased, and the crowds grew, it was content to sit back and collect the money. Not the first, time that greed has overcome ethics. And not the last - why else is the world suffering from a financial recession now.

The ones I feel most sorry for are the kids who idolise Phelps, and worse, worship Rodriguez.

I was recently at the Straits Times Athlete of the Year award presentation, held in the Singapore Sports School. There, I saw the looks of awe and joy on the faces of young, aspiring footballers as they crowded for a handshake and a photo with Lions Aleksander Duric and Baihakki Khaizan. It meant so much to them.

So what do the parents of those young fans of Phelps and Rodriguez tell them? More importantly, what do Phelps and Rodriguez tell the kids, who want nothing more but to follow the examples set by their heroes?

"Don't do as we do." It rings so hollow.

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On a side note, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams have recently come out to condemn World Anti-Doping Agency's latest rule. Players must let drug-testers know where to find them for a period of one hour on every day of every week. It makes Nadal feel "like a criminal". And he makes a crucial point. Why should clean athletes be treated like parolees who have just come out of jail? What wrong have they done to justify such an intrusion into their privacy?

If Wada wants to punish anybody, punish those who cheat. Really punish them - and not with those paltry two-year, four-year suspensions for a first offence. Instead, it should be strike one, and you're out, for life. Then, athletes will think twice, thrice, four times before putting even a single illegal substance into their bodies. And Wada can stop this silly cat-and-mouse game.

Electronics prices not so fair?

2008-12-08T02:41:00Z

Abdul Hafiz asks why a video camera costs much more at a fair than online.

SINGAPORE, one thinks, is where eletrical goods come at fair prices. But not always.

I have been looking for a video camera to record family events, but prices have left me scratching my head.

The price for the Canon HF100 - a high-def cam - is at a "promotional" price of $1,899. Some "freebies" have been thrown including a $180 Swensen voucher.

But on Canon's USA website, the suggested retail price for this video cam is US$799. The same cam is sold on Amazon for US$529.

That works out to around $800 here.

That means there is more than a $1,000 price difference for the same product.

Why?

A waste of foreign talent?

2008-11-28T09:48:00Z

Abdul Hafiz Abdul Samad doubts Qiu Li's missed opportunity is a blow to S'pore.

SINGAPORE'S highest hope of glory - the Suzuki Cup, or Tiger Cup as it was once known - has, it seems, suffered a big blow.

New China import Qiu Li cannot take part. In fact he has to wait till 2010 to play for Singapore, when he will be 29. Fifa says he has to fulfill a five-year residency rule in order to play for his own country.

Somebody - either in Fifa or FAS - has just made a huge mistake - but the Foreign Talent Scheme has had its bad calls.

How do we forget the indiscipline of Itimi Dickson and Agu Casmir, or how little Mirko Grabovac (0 goals from 11 games) and Egmar Goncalves (three goals from 13 games) actually contributed to Singapore's international game before quitting the country?

But there is no point in harping on the past. There are bigger to issues to worry us.

Not so much that Qiu Li will be 29 by the time he gets to put on a Lions shirt again, but why he was made a Lions in the first place.

Is he good enough to take the national team to another level? Can he take Singapore to the Asian Cup? Is he so talented that a place in the starting XI is guaranteed?

No, no and no.

Sure he can shield a ball well, is pretty good with free kicks and can turn a game around when he hits full gear. But so can the local born Khairul Amri.

If Singapore were at full strength, there is every chance they Qiu Li will only be good enough for the bench. So with him, Singapore have a little bit more depth. But that is it.

FAS' criteria to qualify for the Foreign Talent Scheme is as listed:

(i) He must not have represented any National Team, in any age-group;

(ii) He consistently performs in the S.League and are a notch or two better in standard than local players of his age;

(iii) He has shown that he can add value to the National Team by plugging a gap in the team;

(iv) He is of good character;

(v) He desires to take up Singapore Citizenship.

A notch or two better. That's it? Plug a gap, instead of taking the team to the next level? Here is another paragraph from the FAS website, after what happened with Mirko and Egmar:

"Today, FAS has moved on to inducting younger players like Shi Jiayi (23 years old) and Precious Emuejeraye (23 years old). These FSTs all have a longer period to contribute to the national cause."

Qiu Li was 27 when he was given citizenship this year. Sure, the guideline can be broken but for genuinely inspirational players - a player Singaporeans can really get excited about. But Qiu Li isn't that.

Do you think the FAS was right to recruit him?

So what if England won?

2008-11-20T22:00:00Z

Abdul Hafiz Abdul Samad ponders the relevance of Wednesday's friendly.

ARSENE Wenger admitted that the shoulder injury Theo Walcott suffered while training for England could have happened anywhere.

The Arsenal winger, now out for three months after surgery, has a hereditary condition that weakens his ligaments, but that is him.

What if Gabriel Agbonlahor and Gareth Barry picked up injuries against Germany on Wednesday?

There goes Aston Villa's chances of taking the scalp of another Big Four team when they take on Manchester United on Saturday.

What if John Terry, whose injury problems have been blamed on playing too many games, had been crocked again after playing the entire 90 minutes against Germany?

Liverpool would have been laughing but not Chelsea.

What if Portsmouth's top scorer Jermain Defoe suffered more than just the tight muscle that saw him substituted?

Even less chance for an upset against AC Milan in the Uefa Cup next week.

Just because England's players got away relatively unscathed from Berlin, the question remains: Of what point was the match, other than adding to the bank balance of the Football Assocation, and giving football hooligans an excuse for violence? Fifteen fans were arrested after the "friendly".

German police hold a German supporter after the friendly at the Olympic stadium in Berlin on Nov 19. Three hooligans were arrested as England and German football fans clashed just before the match.
Source: AFP

Yes the game gave England manager Fabio Capello the chance to try out new players, but the next match is four months down the road.

By then those who played on Wednesday might be injured or have lost their form, while others found theirs or have recovered from their ailments.

So, really, there was no point. But these kind of matches will continue, even as players, manager, officials all complain about too much football.

As long as fans are ready to pay, the players will continue to play.

At least some have a bit of commonsense.

Chelsea's Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Joe Cole pulled out from England's squad but were in training for their club on the day of the Germany game.

Be assured that if there was a game against Manchester United that day, they would have been ready to play.

Players should have pride wearing their national colours.

But beating or losing to Germany would have made no difference to England's chances of qualifying for World Cup 2010.

But picking up an injury could make a big difference to their club's and paymasters' Premier League ambitions.

What do you think? Did Germany vs England have any relevance?

Because this EPL season is worth it

2008-08-16T13:41:00Z

Abdul Hafiz watches out for the 'almighty battle' between Liverpool and Man U.

AND so we begin anew our indulgence of our favourite spoilt child - the EPL.

The off season has been one of

We chide them a bit, laugh it off, and gladly open our wallets for their wanton luxuries.

Forget the S-League, it is the clubs nearly 11,000km away that we treat as our flesh.

(If anyone refuses to embrace Li Jiawei and co's splendid table tennis Olympic medals, they should first question their own allegiance to the EPL).

This season should be one worth staying up for.

Chelsea have the best squad, and if Scolari gets them to samba... Forget about it.

Remember, Manchester United only won last season because of a certain Portuguese winger, the many injuries Chelsea suffered and the sacking of the "Special One".

Now, the Portuguese is out for two months, Chelsea have added Deco, and the extremely Ordinary One has been replace by a Gene Hackman lookalike intent on raising the Poseidon.

Of course, there is that small issue of Scolari having zero experience of either piloting or English club football.

Arsenal will be lovely to watch as long as you don't support them.

Squad looks as malnourished as Arsene Wenger, and appropriately, their most experience player, William Gallas, is the most infantile of them all.

Which explains why he is captain.

But this season is about Liverpool.

Even through their sorry decline, the Kopsters around the world could look at their 18 league titles and sigh, "We are still the greatest in England".

Not any more, if United win again. That will bring their collection to 18 as well.

For Kopsters, it will be the end of their football world. There will be no purgatory, only hell, and there will be no place to hide from the proddings of Devils.

It is time for a stand.

Liverpool could try to win the title themselves, if Rafael "I rotate therefore I am" Benitez will let them.

Or the Reds could do the next best thing - destroy United in their two games this season, deny them six points, and play dead for Chelsea.

So circle these dates - 13 Sept and 14 Mar, when past will collide with present for posterity.

And we will see two almighty battles between Liverpool and Manchester United.