S-League

As the first round of the S-League draws to a close, I believe many people have a rough idea of what is likely to be the case for the rest of the season. As I offer my sincere and humble opinions, I do expect these opinions to come true, if not partially true.

As can be seen, Woodlands continued their remarkable start to the season with a 2-1 victory over last-season's Singapore Cup winners and league runner-up Tampines Rovers. Clearly, Tampines players are aging and they seriously need to draft in a new batch of young and energetic players to pose any serious threats to their title opponents. Meanwhile, Woodlands are a mix between youth and experience, or more like a team. They have lots of quality at the front, with Laakad Abdelhadi and Park Tae Won again scoring the goals. This is despite the departure of players like Agu Casmir and Itimi Dickson. Tampines should be wandering between 3rd and 6th when the July transfer window arrives, since they have not found replacements for the fast-aging Sead Muratovic, Mirko Grabovac, who struggled in the Beep Test.

Next, proceed to the match between last year's champions SAFFC and last season's wooden spoon awardees Sengkang Punggol. This match appears a total mismatch, but it ended 1-1. It can be considered a fluke, but you have to give Sengkang credit to even pull off this task, after managing a mere 18 points last season. It proves that their run to the League Cup final was no fluke. However, SAFFC have to seriously buck up, and awake from their hibernation, having just mustered a loss and a draw in this season's official matches. They too, have to find replacements for the older quality players, like Therdsak Chaiman and Aleksander Duric, if not they could end up like Tampines Rovers this season. When Therdsak left SAF seasons ago, SAF struggled, and only revived when this talismanic Thai returned to help pull the strings.

The match between Gombak and Geylang must be considered the least exciting of the matches this week, but seriously admit that this two teams are showing that they are capable to challenge for the top half of the table. For Geylang, it's a case of returning to the glory days, but they still have to work hard, and with skilful players too. Gombak have shown last season they can fight, and finished the season ahead of foreign outfit Sporting Afrique, and near Balestier Khalsa in the point tally.

Now, to the foreign teams. As I have already said, Korean Super Reds are really struggling, and surrendered easily to Home United. My prediction have been deemed invalid, as I ranked them a possible top 3. Now, I rank them in the bottom half of the table. As I say, you cannot judge a team based on just few matches. Maybe, if they win their next match, people will suddenly say they are good and rank them high. So mid-table is a high possibility. Home have shaken off their inconsistency in the League Cup and could easily end up as serious challengers for the title. I make them out as top 3, or even top 2.

Liaoning versus Young Lions bring out an interesting clash between Singapore's future prospects against Liaoning's future prospects. Young Lions did us proud by winning this 3-2, preventing any good start for the foreign teams. However, they are still unstable and I can't see them in a good position like they are at the start of last season. Maybe they will end up 5th. For Liaoning, I must say they did marginally better than their Korean counterparts. However, I can't see them picking any points against Home United in the first televised S-League match of 2007 on Channel 5. They should end the season challenging with Albirex and Gombak for 7th.

Lastly, Albirex versus Balstier. This match presents the best chance for the foreign teams, yet Albirex could only muster a weak 1-1 draw against Balestier, who are suffering from injury problems at such an early stage of the season. They should learn to be better, as their main team in Japan's division 1 just did recently: Hold Champions Urawa Red Diamonds to a 2-2 draw, scoring their two goals only in the last few minutes. Albirex could end up 7th. Balestier, with injury problems, could muster a late season charge, but should finish in the bottom three.

As I round up my points, these are the likely positions the teams will end up in.

Top 3: SAFFC, Home United, Woodlands Wellington
4-6th: Tampines Rovers, Young Lions, Geylang Utd
7-9th: Albirex Niigata, Gombak Utd, Liaoning FC
10-12: Korean Super Reds, Sengkang, Balestier

I end up saying, these predictions are subjective. I am likely to give more accurate ones in mid-season, when the transfer window opens.