Quietly Climbing

It's been a long time, and a few gameweeks have been played in the S-League.

A lot of attention is on Etoile FC, the newly-arrived French-based club that has taken Singapore football by storm, playing pretty attractive football and winning the League Cup convincingly. They currently have 8 points from 4 league games and are sitting prettily near the top of the table in 2nd place. They next play Tampines Rovers, who have a 5 point lead at the top over Etoile having played an extra game.

SAFFC hasn't been performing very well, and it can possibly be attributed to the shakeup of the team, with Duric moving to Tampines and Therdsak Chaiman leaving the club, and the arrival of 4 new and tall foreigners, as well as some other local players like Indra Sahdan. They currently have 8 points from 5 games and sit 3rd in the table.

This season indeed promises more excitement, as clubs, local and foreign alike, look to break the recent monopoly by Richard Bok's men (who won the last 4 league titles with a largely unchanged team).

Based on the performances so far, a couple of teams are in with a shout. SAFFC cannot be written off (especially since they have a bad record against Gombak and losing against them this season does not say much, though their performances to date are rather unconvincing).

Etoile, with their good start to life in the S-League, quite easily possibly the most exciting foreign side to date, is definitely in with a shout.

Tampines Rovers looked reinvigorated this season, with evergreen striker Duric joining their ranks, and Qiu Li topping the scoring charts with 5 goals in 5 games.

So will it be like the table at the moment, SAF, Etoile and Tampines competing for the title?

What about Home United, traditionally a strong side? For me, I will boldly predict them to be out of the title race running. Not just because they sit 3rd from bottom at the moment (the table says little because so many teams all have 5-8 points now), but they do not look to have any players capable of leading their charge, as evident in their match yesterday against Beijing Guoan.

In fact, Beijing Guoan showed huge potential in that very same match, and this is what I want to talk about at the start. Beijing, especially in the second half, came out stronger than Home United, and displayed some good teamwork and good shooting ability, and their clinical finishes and good positioning, in attack especially, will put them in good stead. I won't be too bold with this one, but I think they will have a good debut season, a significant change from the other forays by Chinese teams in the S-League.

I wanted to wait a couple of matches before coming up with this season's predictions, and here they are:

Tampines Rovers FC
Singapore Armed Forces FC
Etoile FC
Gombak United FC
Beijing Guoan Talent FC
Geylang United FC
Home United FC
Sengkang Punggol FC
Young Lions
Woodlands Wellington FC
Balestier Khalsa FC
Albirex Niigata FC (S)

I haven't decided my choice for the league champions, so the top 3 is essentially a toss-up. I believe SAFFC will be distracted by the AFC Champions League commitments and will have a slower start, while Tampines have an exciting strikeforce of Duric, Qiu Li and Khairul Amri and a reliable goalkeeper in Hassan Sunny. Their problems will come if the strikers sustain long-term injuries. Etoile look to be a good bet for the title, but I think more time has to be given before we make our conclusions. They are exciting to watch in the S-League, but their finishing is far from clinical and they can be too aggressive at times, and their defence cannot afford to be lazy against quick counter attacks.

It promises to be a very open title race and SAFFC will have their work cut out to win this season's league title. Good thing is, even if a foreign team wins the league title, the AFC Champions League qualifying spot will still go to the best-placed local team.

So don't worry about not having a Singaporean team in the AFC Champions League :)