Ranieri is Gone

9 months ago, manager Claudio Ranieri performed a sporting miracle. Everyone thought Leicester City would struggle to stay in the English Premier League but the lovable Italian led the underdogs to the Premier League title.

Now, Claudio Ranieri has been sacked as Leicester City. As they say, WTF!

Now I know Leicester City is struggling this season. They are one point above the relegation zone with 13 just matches left, but is anyone surprised by that? The Foxes had always been strugglers so how could the results this season be a surprise to anyone? I mean Ranieri guided them to the title, something that’s nothing short of a miracle and now he is getting sack for the team playing to their previous, expected level?

That’s just wrong, and I don’t mean that emotionally. Claudio Ranieri hasn’t done anything so bad that he deserved the sack. This is a wrong decision by the Leicester City board that smells of desperation and fear. In short, the Thai owners of Leicester City lost their nerve. Too bad Claudio Ranieri is the one who has to pay for their panic.

GOAT!

As many readers of my blog would know by now, I’m not exactly a big fan of the peacock known as Roger Federer. However, it’s just so hard not to give the man his due. Seriously, how many people thought the man had it in him to win another Grand Slam?

I sure didn’t. Roger Federer had just returned from a six-month break due to a series of injuries; hasn’t won a Slam in since 2012; and is now 35 year old. Surely he can’t win another Slam right? Wrong because that’s what the man did. Amazingly, Roger Federer outlasted Rafael Nadal to win the Australian Open title, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. He is now the holder of five Australian Open titles and is the oldest player to win a Grand Slam title since Ken Rosewall in 1972.

What can you say? You might not like the man but you must respect him. 18th Grand Slam titles; oldest player to win a Grand Slam in over 40 years; and to win after 6 months out with injuries! What can you say?

One of the greatest rivalries in tennis history received another chapter Sunday night in Melbourne, Australia, as Roger Federer outlasted Rafael Nadal to win the Australian Open title, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Like it or not, Roger Federer is just the GOAT.

Crazy China

Big money transfer are nothing unusual in the world of football, but even by the crazy standard of the world’s most popular sport, the money that is being thrown by China is nuts! It is common knowledge that the Chinese President Xi Jinping is a huge football fan and he has been actively trying to promote and raise the standard of Chinese football.

That’s all good and well, but the bid to curry favour with the powers to be in China has made the clubs in the Chinese Super League crazy. I mean Guangzhou Evergrande paid €42 million for Jackson Martinez. Shanghai Shenhua paid $78.2 million for Carlos Tevez, and then gave him a salary of $762,000 a week. That’s a week!

Then there are rumours of another Chinese club offering Alexis Sánchez a £400,000-per-week offer, and yet another offering Real Madrid a £250m transfer for Cristiano Ronaldo. If Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes is to be believed, that Chinese club was willing to pay Ronaldo a £85m annual salary.

Sorry but if the clubs in the Chinese Super League think buying foreign stars is the way to go to raise the football standard of China; they are wrong. Throwing money at foreign players is a short term fix that does nothing for the long-term health of football in the country. Simply put, you can’t buy success in international football. You need to throw money at the unsexy for that to happen. AKA, youth development and football academy! Just look at Bahrain and our own dear Singapore as prime examples.

I won’t fault players for taking the money and plying their trade in China. I mean I would if I’m offered those amounts of money, but fans of Chinese football need to rein in their expectations. These players will do nothing to raise the standard of their football. 

The Blame Game

As quickly as that, the Singapore national football team are out of the AFF Suzuki Cup. The biennial football competition is contested by the national teams of Southeast Asia and Singapore had slumped to their worst showing in the 20-year history by finishing last in their group.

The blame game has already began with the players, the coach, the management, are getting some of the blame. To me, the blame game starts and ends on one thing; age.

Simply put, the national team is too old. The defence is anchored by 38 year old Daniel Bennett, our main striker is 31 year old Khairul Amri, and our captain is 32 year old Shahril Ishak. Our team is just too old to compete and that’s not something the players or the coach can control.

That’s on the Football Association of Singapore. Our youth development has failed so if there’s anyone to blame on the Singapore team getting kicked out on the first round of the Suzuki Cup, it’s on the FAS.  

Goodbye F1

Formula One (F1) supremo Bernie" Ecclestone has publicly said that he believed both Singapore and  Malaysia will no longer be hosting the F1 Grand Prix once their current agreement expires in 2018. I can only say one thing to that; it’s about time!

I don’t know about Malaysia but I never thought Singapore was a good fit for the F1. It’s an open secret to everyone in Singapore the race has been losing money since it came to Singapore and it’s became a yearly nightmare to close off part of the Marina Bay area for the race. Though the visual of the night race was great, the fact is neither the racers nor the teams were all that interested in coming to Singapore in the first place.

Singapore is a small country with no car manufacturing industry to speak of. The price of cars in this country is so high, most Singaporeans who own one has to take multi-years loan just to own it. We are just not a good fit for the F1 so goodbye night-race, and I hope the Singapore replacement is a better fit for you.

No Way To Go But Up

Nine months ago, Tampines Rovers scored a coup when it lured former Arsenal and Liverpool player Jermaine Pennant to Singapore. Now, it is reported that Pennant is leaving Singapore after just one season. Before leaving though, he fired a shot across the bow of Singapore football by saying not even Lionel Messi can save the local S-League.

You know what’s the saddest thing about what he said? He was right.

Sadly, the fact is Singapore football is in the doldrums.  No one really go to see the S-League anymore and the champion of the season is Japanese club Albirex Niigata which is exactly a satellite team for the Albirex Niigata team in Japan. Yes, a feeder squad from Japan won the local league.

Honestly, the impact of Pennant has been limited but that doesn’t mean what he said about Singapore football is incorrect. The shining light in all this? There’s no way to go but up. 

Funny Game

Football is a funny game. Maybe it’s because of that, football fans and media covering football are also sometimes void of sense. I say that because after the bore that was Liverpool vs. Manchester United, fans and the media are saying Man Utd manager Jose Mourinho seems to have his swagger back.

No talk about how he sent his team out to defend for 90mins and put 9-10 men behind the ball at all times. At times, Man Utd looked like they had a 6 men defense! Yet people are saying this was "vintage Mourinho" and that he had "his tactics spot on".

Strange because no one said this when Mourinho's predecessor, Louis van Gaal, did it! No wait, van Gaal never did this because he never had a 6-man defense! Yet somehow van Gaal was chased out of Old Trafford for being “boring” while Mourinho was "spot on".

Having 35% of the possession and playing boring football, but somehow that’s a good thing if your name is Jose Mourinho. If you name is Louis van Gaal then…Strange don’t you think? 

Unfair But...

You have to give them credit. Since Yip Pin Xiu won the gold medal in the S2 100m backstroke at the Rio Paralympic 2016, the Singapore media has been trying to push up the achievement and get Singaporeans excited over it.

Unfortunately, Singaporeans are just not biting. In a way, that’s not really surprising. The Paralympic swimmer had won Paralympic gold before. Yip won a gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, yet most Singaporeans had already forgotten about it. In fact, Yip was considered one of the favorites in her event but her win came as a surprise to most Singaporeans.

On sheer gold medal count, Yip has Joseph Schooling beat but as a Paralympic athlete, she’ll never be as famous as Schooling. Is it fair? Hell no, but that’s just the way it is. No matter how hard the Singapore media try, that’s the way it’s going to be. 

Dial It Back

Okay Singapore, it's time to dial it back. I know Joseph Schooling is Singapore’s Golden Boy after winning Singapore's first Olympic gold medal but this is getting out of hand! Today, the Singapore New Paper state that Joseph Schooling, Usain Bolt, and Michael Phelps as the three leading lights of the Rio Olympics. 

I'm sorry but "No"! 

As great as Schooling's gold medal win is, he's not in the same class as Bolt and Phelps. Come on, Phelps has 23 gold medals; Bolt has 9; Schooling got 1. Hell, Schooling is not on the same planet as Bolt and Phelps! My fellow Singaporeans; it's pretty fine to be proud of Joseph Schooling's achievement but let's not go too overboard here. Dial it back. 

Politics Rule In the IAAF

The Rio Olympics athletics program was already in the dumps with the strange case of the Russian athletics team being thrown out, but the case of the United States' 4x100m women's relay team has just made athletics a total joke.

The American team just won their solo race against the clock to book their place in the Olympic 4x100m women's relay final, even though they dropped the baton in the heats. In their appeal, the Americans say the dropped baton exchange between Allyson Felix and English Gardner was due to a knock from Brazilian runner Kauiza Venancio. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) agreed. They disqualified Brazil, who did not make the finals, but ruled that the Americans must run again, in a highly unusual solo flying lap, to beat China's eighth fastest qualifying time of 42.70sec. The Americans did and the IAAF dismissed the expected Chinese protest.

Question; does this means that every time someone is knocked off-stride, the IAAF will grant a re-run? Runners get knocked by other runners all the time. In distance running, it's almost an accepted fact. Even in short distance, it has happened before. In 2011, Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang was blocked by another athlete. No re-run then. Hell, the Rio Olympic flame was lit by marathon runner Vanderlei de Lima who was attacked by a crazed spectator while leading the marathon in the 2004 Summer Olympics. Any re-run then?

So why is there one now? That is just stupid! If the Americans were knocked by a Chinese runner and the Chinese team went through, I can understand the decision but that's clearly not the case here. Unless someone is saying the Brazilian team knocked the American team on purpose on behalf of the Chinese, this decision make no sense whatsoever.

But then again this is the IAAF and as shown in the Russian case, it is a place where politics rule all!  

Joseph Schooling's Deferment

Last week, Joseph Schooling won Singapore’s first Olympic gold medal. After the historic Olympic gold medal win, the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) made the right decision to defer Schooling's national service (NS) so that his training for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games will not be disrupted.

I'm fully in favor of the deferment, but I have to ask this; why only him?

Singapore sent many athletes and the issue of NS has been a bugbear to all the male Singaporean athletes. Schooling won the gold and got his deferment, but he should not be the only one to get it. There's a lot of budding male athletes in Singapore whose sporting development are derailed by NS. Surely MINDEF cannot expect all of them to win a gold medal in the Olympic Games before granting their deferment. 

That's just silly. I think MINDEF should grant more deferment to male athletes. If they do that, then who knows...we might not need to wait another 50+ years before we get Singapore's second male athlete to get a gold in the Olympics.

Welcome Home!!!

Yesterday, the United States of America got its 1,000th gold medal at the Rio Olympics. While you have to congratulate the U.S for their achievement, no one in Singapore care about that. In fact, all our eyes will be at Changi Airport because today, Singapore's very own Joseph Isaac Schooling is coming back home.

Joseph Schooling is Singapore's golden boy because he just got Singapore's very first Olympic gold medal! I must admit; I had my doubts. I mean he sacrifice his entire Olympic program just for his pet event, the 200m fly. And he still need to beat Michael Phelps to win!

Amazingly, he did it. He’s done Singapore proud and is coming home with an Olympic gold medal around his neck. Congratulations Joseph Schooling and welcome home! 

Euro 2016

In a year of shocks, surprises and unexpected winners, I guess it should come as no surprise that we have yet another expected champion. The Euro 2016 is over and the winner is Portugal who shocked host France in the final early this morning. 

Journeyman professional Eder scored only his fourth international goal with a 25 meter screamer that nested in the bottom left corner that gave Portugal the 1-0 victory. He scored in extra-time and with just 11 mins to go, there was no time for France to come back. 

The main man for Portugal however wasn't Eder or even captain Cristiano Ronaldo; it was coach Fernando Santos. With players like Ronaldo in attack, Portugal always has a threat going forward and Santos turned Europe's underachievers into champions by imposing a no-frills defensive scheme that's very hard to break down. 

It might be boring but it worked. Portugal is now champions of Europe. Well done! 

Crazy Ban

I have been ignoring this issue because I never thought it would happen. However since it looks like it is going to happen, I have to say this; the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) mission to ban Russian track and field athletes from competing in the Rio Olympics 2016 is just plain stupid! 

What nonsense is this about banning athletes who has never ever being caught doping? American sprinter Justin Gatlin had been caught twice for doping but he's allowed in Rio but the greatest female pole vaulter in history, Russian Yelena Isinbayeva (who has ever even been accused of doping), is not? What sense does that makes? 

If the IOC and the athletics' governing body the IAAF says that they don't trust the Russians' anti-doping program, well I say most people in the world don't trust the fact that Justin Gatlin is free of doping. Does that mean they can ban Gatlin without cause? No?

Then how can they ban Russians' athletes? The more this play out, the more it sounds like a political hit job on Russia. I hope for the sake of the IOC, they cancel this ban. It's a crazy decision.

The Russian Warning

With Euro 2016 underway, the big news overshadowing the football is the fighting in the streets of France. For 3 days before the game between Russia and England, English fans had been fighting in the streets of Marseille.

So to the surprise of no one, on the days of the game between Russia and England, trouble erupted between English and Russian fans. Hundreds of Russian fans charged through a flimsy security cordon at the Stade Velodrome following the final whistle in the 1-1 draw to attack England fans and UEFA just handed the Russian Football Union a suspended disqualification from Euro 2016 and a fine of €150,000. This means Russia will be kicked out of Euro 2016 if their fans cause problems inside the stadium again.

I have to ask this; what about England?

I mean I’m no fan of Russia but their fans caused trouble for 1 day. English fans have been causing trouble for 3! Somehow UEFA say because they cause problems inside the stadium, Russia can be thrown out. However, doesn’t that mean 3 days of violence by English fans on the streets of the host nation means less than the 1 day of violence in a football stadium?

Sorry UFEA but I don’t buy that. Not that I want any team to be kicked out but if you are going to issue this warning to Russia, you need to do the same thing to England. It is only fair. Their fans had been causing much more problems in France than the Russian fans.   

A Mistake In Manchester

In a weekend that saw some big sporting news like Max Verstappen becoming the youngest winner in Formula One history and Stipe Miocic knocking out Fabricio Werdum to become the UFC heavyweight champion, the biggest news was unfortunately the evacuation of Old Trafford.

In what was supposed to be the last game of the season, Manchester United’s game against Bournemouth never started after a package was found in the stands of their stadium, Old Trafford. The ironic thing is that the suspected package was actually a fake device accidentally left behind after a training exercise. So the evacuation was prompted by a training exercise designed to combat terror fears.

Jokes aside, a lot of people in Manchester are embarrassed and angry over the mistake with the Greater Manchester's mayor calling for a full inquiry and saying it was "outrageous". So in a weekend full of great sporting news, the biggest sporting news is…a stupid mistake that took place outside the sporting arena.

Talk about irony. 

The Magic Of Football

That’s it! They’ve done it. Following Tottenham's failure to beat Chelsea on Monday, Leicester City has been crowned Premier League champions for the first time in their history.

This is a fairy-tale ending to an unbelievable season. Leicester City was given odds of 5000-1 to win the title by British bookmakers at the start of the season and back then, no one complained about the odds. They had only narrowly escaped relegation last season, and many had tipped them as relegation candidate this season as well. Show what we know right?

Not only that, Leicester City won the title by going old-school. This is a football era dominated by ball possession, but manger Claudio Ranieri has Leicester City going the direct route. Backed by a strong defence, Ranieri got his team going forward quickly on the counter the moment they get the ball and the tactics has paid handsome dividends.

Still, I do think this is a one-off thing for the underdogs. Chances are Leicester City will be back near the bottom next season. For now though, let’s enjoy this. Let’s enjoy the magic that’s football. 

Meldonium/Mildronate

The biggest sporting news this morning is the press conference held by tennis star Maria Sharapova who announced that she had failed a doping test at the Australian Open in January. But before you start on a rant on sporting stars who doped, you should know the details.

The drug Sharapova got busted for is called Mildronate, a drug Sharapova has been taking for the past 10 years. The drug only came onto the list of banned drugs on 1/1/2016. We don’t know when the drug test was taken but The Australian Open was held between 18–31 January 2016, so the test was done within this period. Not only that, the name of the drug on the banned list is actually “Meldonium”, which is the medical name of Mildronate.

It seems Sharapova was not the only athlete who got caught out by this medical name change. At least 7 other athletes had been caught out by this including Olympic gold medalist ice dancer Ekaterina Bobrova and Endeshaw Negesse, the Ethiopian winner of last year's Tokyo Marathon. Tennis, and Maria Sharapova, however is much more high profile and I’m interested to see how the ITF (International Tennis Federation) handles the issue.

Looks like a clear mistake made by several athletes, not just Sharapova, but when it comes to doping, athletes nowadays are guilty till proven innocent. That’s why she will be suspended while the case goes under appeal. I hope she and the other athletes gets clear though I’m not sure if that’s a plus or minus for Maria that she’s just one of a bunch of athletes caught with Meldonium/Mildronate. What’s clear to me however is that the people handling and administering the anti-doping program need to clear stuff up, like the names of the drugs they are banning.

I mean these are athletes; how in the world are they supposed to know all the different names of the drug they take. It’s unfair to ban them over a simple mistake anyone, including myself, could make. They need to tweak the anti-doping program to make things simpler, fairer and more transparent for everyone, including Maria Sharapova. 

Hell No!

What happen when you give Americans power in the world of football? You get nonsense like how "big" clubs like Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United are more "deserving" of being in the Champions League than clubs like Leicester City, even if Leicester City wins the EPL (English Premier League).

Charlie Stillitano, chairman of Relevent Sports, practically openly said this after meeting representatives of five of the biggest Premier League clubs to discuss a new structure for Europe's top club competition. According to Mr. Stillitano, teams that generate most of the revenues in the sport deserve to be in the top competition, no matter where they finish in their domestic league.

Sorry but that is total nonsense. Is Mr. Stillitano saying that Chelsea, which is currently 10th in the EPL, deserve to be in the Champions League more than the winner of the EPL? That would only make sense to an American with their crazy sporting system of tanking seasons (with a S) to get good lottery picks positions. Do you know the New York Knicks is considered a "top" team in the NBA even though they haven't the title since 1973?

Do you want that in football? Hell no!

Red Meat

Sports and politics should not mix and if anyone doubts that, the problems between Nike and Manny Pacquiao should settle that argument once and for all. Nike has announced that they are ending its endorsements with the Filipino boxer after he described gay couples as "worse than animals".

Naturally, the remarks are a big no-no for a big Western company like Nike but there was a good reason why Pacquiao said those things. Pacquiao has retired as a boxer and is now a politician. More importantly, Pacquiao is running for a seat in his country's Senate and in a devoutly Christian country like The Philippines, saying things like this gets you votes. If he was American, people would say Pacquiao was waving red meat.

Not to say he was right, but everything has context and that’s what happened here. Like all politicians, Pacquiao is saying what he needs to in order to get the votes. Fans of the boxer better get used to it; it’s going to happen again and again in the future.