Foreign Talents in Singapore Pros vs Cons ; Verdict ?

Star Striker Alex Duric shielding the ball away from the Malaysian defender

      The recent 5 - 3 win by Singapore over Malaysia in the World Cup qualifying match played last Saturday has again ignited the issue about foreign born Singaporeans, especially from our Malaysian friends across  the Causeway. In the Singapore team, we have 3 - 4 Caucasian players from places like England and Serbia as well as a couple of mainland Chinese players. Previously we also had a couple of players originally from Nigeria and donning Singapore colours. Football is a passionate game and match results can unite a country or even cause unrest - see scenes from South American Copa America and other. Many people who witnessed the match and saw the result, from the sidelines did not mind that these Singaporeans are foreign born. They are proud to serve Singapore and improve the standard of Singapore football.

The question I want to ask is : Do they actually help in the OVERALL standard of Singapore football ??
Or are they denying the Singapore born players a shot at the international scene where their experience will be invaluable ? Lets take a look at a country which gave the world the modern day football game.

     The world's most exciting league is the English Barclays Premier League, top teams such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea are global brands and have won the European Cups, UEFA Cups, Super Cups and the like. The teams have great players like Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez, Samri Nasir, Park Jee Young and many others, just to name a few. But the England side, what have they won ?  1 World Cup in 1966 (on home soil) and...  thats about it !

    English football is in the doldrums for as long as I can remember, and they have never made it to any World Cup final, only reached a semifinal in 1992 in Mexico. In 2002, they made it to the semis of the European Cup and that's about it. Pathethic showing for a country in which the original sport of football was founded !

   The bottom line is this, its all about money, while Singapore can afford to pay and attract these foreign born players, and now having lived in Singapore for at least 5 years, applied for a fast track Permanent Residency, get paid a good salary for an S League club, they have the opportunity to be selected for Singapore citizenship, and because of their size, natural talent, are able to lift the quality and skills of the Singapore football team for some time. Singapore were the AFC champions in 2005 and 2007 thanks to the input of Daniel Benett (England) and Mustafaric (Bosnia). We are thankful for these players and more for bringing the name of Singapore soccer to a higher level. There is no turning back here.

   The only worry I have is that the Singapore born boys and girls who have the talent of football will not be exploited to the fullest level, so that is in a way, unfair to these boys and girls. They should be given every opportunity to shine and ultimately make a decent living from sports like football. Will there ever be another Fandi Ahmad or Sundramoorthy if the football authorities keep bringing in the foreigners ?  So, its a painful decision, people of the soil versus foreign born, opportunities and chances of fame and fortune. There should be a positive descrimination for our Singaporeans over the foreign born players.  Ultimately, I feel we should limit the number of foreign born, be it whether they have lived here for 10 years or longer (FIFA calls for only 5), to no more than half the team, or 5 people.

    Then, there is some opportunity for Singapore born stars to develop and shine at national level, while the foreign born players raise the standards for our national team.