RIP Soccer Singapore

SINGAPORE - In a year that has not been kind to Singapore football, all hope of festive cheer was pinned on Radojko Avramovic and his Lions to bring some joy to the fraternity, but there would be no merry end to 2010.

Three domestic titles in local football were all claimed as bounty by foreign teams who raided the S-League; the national side fumbled chance after chance to qualify for the Asian Cup finals; then the national under-23 team returned from last month's Guangzhou Asian Games with their tail between their legs - even before the opening ceremony; and S-League clubs are still in intensive care fighting a financial cancer, struggling to keep their heads above water.

Last night, the picture got worse: The Lions fell 1-0 to Vietnam at Hanoi's My Dinh Stadium, and once the undisputed kings of Asean from 2005 to 2007, Singapore crashed out of the AFF Suzuki Cup, failing to make it out the group stage of the competition.

Singapore's soccer team

With two wins and a loss, Vietnam (6 points) top Group B, with the Philippines (5pts) in second spot. Singapore are third, a point adrift.

Vietnam will face Malaysia in the semi-finals, while the Philippines take on high-flying Indonesia.
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