Singapore is now paying the price for its failure in youth and talent development from a decade ago, says national U22 coach Philippe Aw.
And Singapore football fans will need to wait for another 10 years to see any kind of success.
Aw’s frank assessment of the state of youth football came after Singapore’s U22 side failed to make the final of the Merlion Cup after a 1-0 loss to Hong Kong.
“What is happening today is the cause of 10 years ago,” Aw told the Straits Times after the defeat.
“I’ve been in Singapore football, coached for a long time and if we want success, we need to wait 10 years to see what we have put in place.
For context, Singapore has not made the semi-finals of the football tournament of the biennial Games since 2013, including when the Lion City was the hosts of the Games in 2015.
Aw suggested that the issue which is dogging Singapore is the lack of finishers.
“We need to have more strikers in Singapore.
“It’s something that is affecting us.
We have (Abdul) Rasaq and now Syahadat (Masnawi) as well but if you look younger – who are the strikers coming through?
“In the national team we have the Fandi brothers and after that we don’t have (anyone).
“We need to look at this from youth level to ensure there are enough strikers coming through.”
Aw’s points appear to have struck a right note with former Gombak United coach Johana Johari, who left a comment on the Football Association of Singapore Facebook page.
