Sports

Tall and lanky, he bears a passing resemblance to Juventus dynamo Paul Pogba. Sure, he is nowhere near the 23-year-old French international who has already played in a Champions League final, but Hougang United forward Iqbal Hussain is definitely an exciting prospect for Singapore football as his team continue to confound skeptics by continuing their fairytale run. Last night at the Hougang Stadium, the 22-year-old came on as a 66th-minute substitute for Nur Na'iim Ishak and took just four minutes to score a brilliant solo goal to salvage a point for the 10-man Cheetahs against title favourites Tampines Rovers and preserve both their five-match unbeaten home record and their place in the S.League's top three.

They were one of the title contenders pre-season, but endured a terrible start when they went winless in their first four games and dropped 10 points in the process, effectively killing their title hopes before they could even start to dream. But once they got into the groove, once they kickstarted their campaign with their first win, a 4-1 cakewalk over Garena Young Lions despite conceding the opener, they are now one of the form teams outside of the seemingly unstoppable league leaders Albirex Niigata.

So after almost three years, Bernd Stange is stepping down as the national football coach, as The New Paper reported earlier this month. But based on his last home match, a 2-1 win over Myanmar in an international friendly at the Jalan Besar Stadium last night, the 68-year-old German has definitely failed in what he set out to do when he was first appointed in May 2013.

On paper, this looked like an AFC Cup match between an S.League club against a team from the Philippines. But it might as well have been a Singaporean side taking on an European outfit. Whereas Tampines Rovers featured eight Singaporeans and three imports in their starting XI, Ceres La Salle deployed eight outfield players born in Europe, two from South Korea, with goalkeeper Louie Casas the only one born and bred in the Philippines.

Not every football match needs goals to be a thriller. In yet another positive advertisement for the S.League, 2,139 fans witnessed Geylang International and Albirex Niigata duke it out in an entertaining encounter at the Bedok Stadium for a share of the spoils.

For the second gameweek in a row, S.League teams Balestier Khalsa and Tampines Rovers stayed unbeaten in the AFC Cup, indicating that local football is on the up. In fact, they beat Kitchee SC and Selangor 1-0, earning crucial wins against teams widely regarded as the best in Group F and E respectively. Both teams also rose to the top of their respective tables, putting them in a good position to fly Singapore's flag in the knockout rounds for the first time since Home United made the last 16 in 2012.

Singaporean teams got off to a good start in the second-tier AFC club competition, with Tampines Rovers beating Bangladesh's Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club 4-0 at Jalan Besar and Balestier Khalsa holding New Radiant to a 2-2 draw in the Maldives last night. In terms of result, they delivered one that equals their biggest AFC Cup win, with former Arsenal and Liverpool star Jermaine Pennant involved in all four goals. While the 33-year-old marquee signing is clearly no longer the flying winger he once was, he was still too good for the opponents who were making their debut in the AFC Cup proper.

Former EPL player Jermaine Pennant has agreed terms with S League contenders Tampines Rovers making him the highest paid player in Singapore history. Speaking to members of the press, Pennant revealed he was looking at various apartments and his family will join him in February.

AFTER WEEKS OF BUILD UP, URGING FANS TO BRING BACK THE KALLANG ROAR, A MILLION WRITE UPS etc. When it came to the actual match, they played like little girls. There was one occasion in the 60 minute the joker completely missed his kick and air shot.

On 8 October 2015, the Singapore National Football Team defeated Afghanistan one nil in their World Cup qualifiers at the Singapore National Stadium. Forward Khairul Amri connected with a Faris Ramli corner and powered in a header past goalkeeper Ovays Azizi in the 72nd minute.