It's an entire different ball game...

Can Delwinder (left) meet up with coach Raddy's (right) expectations?

A few questions came to my mind after The Straits Times in its September 11 edition carried the story of national coach Raddy Avramovic lamented the lack of quality talents that spelt the dearth of supply to the national team in recent years.

Such comment, of course, will never go down well with those will singled out the names like Ahmad Latiff Khamarudin, Jamil Ali, etc.

However, coach Raddy highlighted the lack of young players in the calibre like Hariss Harun, who is ready to step into the international stage at the present stage when he was quoted as follows

"Do you see exceptional young players? And if your clubs are not progressing in the AFC Champions League or AFC Cup, your youth players are missing out on part of the international experience."

Undoubtedly, with SAFFC's ACL adventures that ended in group stages after having qualified for it on two occasions, Tampines Rovers' recent fine form of run in the AFC Cup campaign saw them crash out of the group stages for their first time this year, while Home United finished at the octo-final phrase in the second-tier continental club tournament months ago - would be counted as some of those options to allow young players, as cited by coach Raddy, to experience that kind of level of football.

"See, people are better prepared than us. What to Do?"

Whilst the continental adventures have yet to reap the kind of results everyone deemed as a sign of progression, looking back at things had the situation then made it favourable to allow Singapore representatives to do us proud?

In the recent past, it's not uncommon to have SAFFC coach Richard Bok and former Tampines Rovers' coaches Vorawan Chitavanich and Steven Tan made known their sense of helplessness in juggling the far and wide travelling on top of their domestic commitments.

(File Picture) SAFFC's coach Richard Bok (left) highlighted the scheduling issues

Yet, things can't be helped when these Asia-bound clubs had to deal with the late release of fixtures prior to every season start that eventually crippled the planning of their season ahead.

As such, when the lack of desired planning in advance for a demanding season other than having a congested fixture list, would it be asking too much from the representative sides to do well on the Asian front?

Furthermore, while a large number of fans have been clamouring for the "who and who" that shine themselves in the S.League, one area that many might have failed to realize is the difference between the domestic and international games.

Much demanding in terms of skill and pace level are some of the key factors that are required in donning the national team jersey, have we not looked back at who were those that had "come and go".

Adam Swandi (no 10), who will help him to progress from here?

Coming to this juncture and looking back at things when representative clubs were not given sufficient time to get prepare for the continental tournaments and failed to maximize their potential that eventually stumbles the players' progression at a higher stage.

Needless to say, we are unlikely to see our players getting the much-needed exposure to international football given the inadequate preparation before-handed that has bugged us all for as long as we can remember.

Since it's a 13-team S.League in 2013 (source: 1,2), fixtures should start planning now in order to allow better preparation for clubs heading to the next season's AFC club tournaments for exposure to youth players.

It's an entirely different ball game when playing for your country

Just have to think about it at this point in time, before the players are to be called up for the national team, should these players will be given a tuition lesson at the club-level first on a regional basis before being elevated to the next stage, in order to be mentally prepared for that transition?

As they always said: “One must learn to crawl before one learns to walk”.