<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Lions were forgotten amid the swooning
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ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->YESTERDAY'S reports, 'Kallang to KOP - Fans transform National Stadium into 'home ground' for Liverpool', left me disappointed, but not over the 5-0 victory by Liverpool over the national team.
I was struck by skipper Noh Alam Shah's lament that he felt insulted that the emcee should have called the National Stadium - the home ground where he and his teammates play their hearts out for Singapore - as the home stadium of Liverpool.
'This is Anfield,' crowed the emcee, and it left me feeling as disheartened as Alam Shah.
Where was the national pride when our players walked onto their own stadium? The stadium swooned to the Liverpool anthem, 'You'll Never Walk Alone', but where was Majulah Singapura? Unplayed and forgotten.
If the fans on Sunday night had cheered on Singapore as well, would it have motivated them to play better and achieve a more respectable result?
I commend the Lions who played well and tried their best. I am proud of the national team.
The Football Association of Singapore and future organisers of such high-profile exhibitions should put in more effort to encourage our fans to support our own Lions.
And yes, please remember to play the National Anthem, and remind the emcee to get it right: this (the National Stadium) is not Anfield, this is Singapore.
Lui Teow Eng
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ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->YESTERDAY'S reports, 'Kallang to KOP - Fans transform National Stadium into 'home ground' for Liverpool', left me disappointed, but not over the 5-0 victory by Liverpool over the national team.
I was struck by skipper Noh Alam Shah's lament that he felt insulted that the emcee should have called the National Stadium - the home ground where he and his teammates play their hearts out for Singapore - as the home stadium of Liverpool.
'This is Anfield,' crowed the emcee, and it left me feeling as disheartened as Alam Shah.
Where was the national pride when our players walked onto their own stadium? The stadium swooned to the Liverpool anthem, 'You'll Never Walk Alone', but where was Majulah Singapura? Unplayed and forgotten.
If the fans on Sunday night had cheered on Singapore as well, would it have motivated them to play better and achieve a more respectable result?
I commend the Lions who played well and tried their best. I am proud of the national team.
The Football Association of Singapore and future organisers of such high-profile exhibitions should put in more effort to encourage our fans to support our own Lions.
And yes, please remember to play the National Anthem, and remind the emcee to get it right: this (the National Stadium) is not Anfield, this is Singapore.
Lui Teow Eng
