S’poreans Skeptical About FAS’s Announcement Of Entering World Cup in 2034

As a kiasu nation-state, we fear the worst in many things:

• Not making it to a good school
• Not getting good enough grades to make it into a good school
• Unable to get a good career or securing enough KPIs in the job to hold it
• Or not getting the Huawei Y6 Pro 2019 smartphones which resulted in many disappointments and even fights.

Sian, right?

Similarly, it’d probably take a miracle to have our diehard football fans believe that our tiny little red dot can place its Lions to roar on the FIFA World Cup finals in 2034.

Goal 2010, an objective set by then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong in 1998, had failed to let the Singapore national team qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

S’poreans Skeptical About FAS’s Announcement Of Entering World Cup in 2034

After all, so many barriers stand in the way of our young star players, like National Service, not to mention our corporate-driven mentality or the long-time slump of local football.

Granted, some international obstacles are there, such as the (no doubt increased) limited number of positions fielded for Asian teams, the challenges of bidding for the co-host position of World Cup 2034, or even getting our Lions to pose more than a growling and prowling threat to international teams like Germany’s or France’s.

After all, Singapore’s Lions ranks just 162nd in the world currently, up from its low of 173rd in 2017.

The Root of the Problem & How We Can Solve It

Yet perhaps the biggest obstacle to the goal of nurturing our local football scene, short of getting a free kick, would be the abovementioned kiasu KPI-driven culture, our lacklustre support for local football, or the lack of development of local stars from a young age.

After all, youth is the best time to learn anything, as science has shown time and time again.

First off, our own Lions has to improve the strength of their kick, starting from the base of youth player development and more government support.

Recently, changes were made to the PSLE-grading system to reduce the stress on primary school students. Yet like anything else, change takes time to happen.

The kiasu mentality of parents runs too deep in our nation’s blood for their sons to even dream of dribbling close to the awe-inspiring legend of Fandi Ahmad.

Nay, they can only dribble in their dreams to pursue the goal of kicking a ball for their career. Pavlov’s dog could do that better, no? (Tsk social conditioning)

Improving Youth Development

Then, heartening as it is that the FAS is doing more to improve the local infrastructure of youth player development, again, the corporate, kiasu, or KPI-driven mentality – whatever you call it – runs too deep for our sons to pursue their dreams when English/Maths/Mother Tongue/Science/Geography/Social Studies tuition gets in the way.

Time for a penalty kick, mothers. Your son deserves a free-kick to his dreams.

Tsk.

NS

Then, National Service, that other compulsory commitment of boys, gets in the way. To date, only a handful have succeeded in deferring NS to continue their athletic training. Joseph Schooling comes to mind. He did, after all, win an Olympic gold medal for Singapore – ahem, our first gold ever.

Ben Davies, that other son of football, was to be disappointed. His failed deferment to train with the English Premier League (EPL) club Fulham has roused a large number of hackles, locally and maybe, internationally.

As a football supporter, your hackles must have been raised too, then.

Mine certainly was.

Local Support

Or perhaps, all these factors aside, you and I and those around you could be more enthusiastic supporters of local football. It takes two hands to clap. Maybe if we started the change from our own mindsets – that we could be more supportive of local talent from the ground-up – the initiative will spread. Like wildfire.

Who knows, our collective enthusiasm might be so powerful, it would persuade the authorities to think alike.

And liberate local football in the end.

A win-win, you say?

Goal.