<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>What experimenting was there in Singapore's 3-0 defeat?
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I WAS appalled to hear on the radio the comments by Singapore's Asian Youth Games soccer team manager Jita Singh, after Wednesday's 3-0 defeat by China.
According to Mr Singh, the team management was experimenting with the squad in this tournament. Perhaps he can clarify what he meant. International competitions are not meant for experimentation. The teams should be tournament-ready, preferably before the competition starts, not after it has started.
It is true that tactical and technical strategies must be adapted during the competition, but this did not appear to be the gist of his meaning, in my view.
The team striker was ineffective throughout all matches, but was not replaced. The goalkeeper made blunder after blunder, but was not replaced. So what was the 'experimentation' Mr Singh was talking about?
Bigger players could have been fielded to play against China who were physically taller. Sunny Ng, one of Singapore's physically larger players, warmed the substitutes bench yet again at Wednesday's match.
Despite the fact that they were 0-3 down and Wednesday's game was the last for the Singapore team, the coach or the team manager could have given substitutes like Ng an opportunity to play. Perhaps I would then have understood what Mr Singh meant by experimenting with the squad.
Alan Mui
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I WAS appalled to hear on the radio the comments by Singapore's Asian Youth Games soccer team manager Jita Singh, after Wednesday's 3-0 defeat by China.
According to Mr Singh, the team management was experimenting with the squad in this tournament. Perhaps he can clarify what he meant. International competitions are not meant for experimentation. The teams should be tournament-ready, preferably before the competition starts, not after it has started.
It is true that tactical and technical strategies must be adapted during the competition, but this did not appear to be the gist of his meaning, in my view.
The team striker was ineffective throughout all matches, but was not replaced. The goalkeeper made blunder after blunder, but was not replaced. So what was the 'experimentation' Mr Singh was talking about?
Bigger players could have been fielded to play against China who were physically taller. Sunny Ng, one of Singapore's physically larger players, warmed the substitutes bench yet again at Wednesday's match.
Despite the fact that they were 0-3 down and Wednesday's game was the last for the Singapore team, the coach or the team manager could have given substitutes like Ng an opportunity to play. Perhaps I would then have understood what Mr Singh meant by experimenting with the squad.
Alan Mui
:p
