Sports Minutes: Referees under fire (again) as red cards raise questions | 26/27 Singapore Premier League

Zia-ul Raushan (0:01)

Sports Minutes with Zia-ul Raushan on MoneyFM 89.3 Two match weeks gone, 27 goals scored, six red cards brandish, some a little more questionable than others. And that's all given us plenty to talk about. This is Sports Minutes with me, Zia-ul Raushan, as we look back on the opening couple of weekends in the Singapore Premier League. And I usually have a certain Deepanraj Ganesan sat across me in the studio for this, but Le Professor is in Japan, but nothing, and I repeat, nothing, will stop him from caring and commenting about Singapore football. Deepan, good to be in your company. You're all the way in Japan, yet you're keeping tabs on the Singapore Premier League. First things first, how's Japan?

Deepanraj Ganesan (0:43)

Hi Raushan, yeah, happy to always talk Singapore football, regardless of where I am. And you're right, I'm in Japan here for the Asian Games, which kicks off actually after the opening ceremony today on the September 20th.

Looking forward to action from across all sports. Pretty big Singapore contingent. And of course, we've got the main leading light, so as to speak, Shanti Perera to look out for, who hopefully will win us another gold medal at these Asian Games.

Zia-ul Raushan (1:11)

I thought you were referring to Alexander Durich, who's quite a leading light at the Asian Games as well. That brings me nicely to Singapore football. You're absolutely right, you love talking, talking about Singapore football as well. And there's been two match weeks that have gone by. I was unable to put out a match week 1 episode, but here we are reviewing match week 2 Let's start with Friday's game, Jurong FC or FC Jurong beating Haogang, 10-man Haogang 3-0. That's now 2-2 for FC Jurong led by Keisuke Honda, sorry, led by Jaswinder Singh.

Impressive start to this new era for the club.

Deepanraj Ganesan (1:44)

A very impressive start. I thought they actually looked really good against the Young Lions, but you know, I guess at this stage of this season, we've got to take results against the Young Lions in a sense with a pinch of a salt, and I'll explain why perhaps later when we come to Young Lions, but for FC Jurong itself, again, you know, this is against a team that were very impressive in Game Week 1 against the Lion City Sailors, so a lot of people expected plenty from Haogang going into this fixture, but I would say FC Jurong made them look very, very ordinary. You know, they've got attacking players who sort of can cause damage from different areas this time in FC Jurong, because I thought, and whether it was a good or bad thing, because of how good Shingo Nakano was for them last season, a lot of the players sort of went through him and revolved around him.

And that's why, you know, he had a brilliant season for Albrecht or FC Jurong in that season. But this time around, you can see that they sort of, they will be able to spread the goals is what I'm saying, because you've got Suinaga who, you know, is able to sort of penetrate by himself, you know, or play players through like he did with Yamaguchi for the first goal.

Or you've got Hazik Kamarudin, who again, we have to shout out to him, who earned his first call up early in the day before FC Jurong got this 3-nil win. He is a very penetrative figure on the right, and he's aided by, whether it's Suinaga who can also play in the half space, or you've also got Christopher Wendt-Husen on the other flank as a fullback, who's able to whip crosses in, and then you've got the substitutes, Kodadohi and Mizuki Endo, who from what I heard before the season started, were going to be first team players. But I think because they were not quite ready for the first game of the season, they've been coming off the bench, and again, you could see Mizuki Endo, what a player he is, and if that's the caliber of players, you're able to bring off the bench, then wow, I think FC Jurong are going to have a very good season this time.

Zia-ul Raushan (3:43)

Thanks for setting the context deepened, because for me, the opening weekends of the Singapore Premier League for Albrecht previously, now FC Jurong, is about getting to know their players, getting to know the Japanese imports they've brought in, and they've certainly caught the eye. But I have to touch on Keisuke Honda, who made his FC Jurong debut this past weekend coming off the bench, almost had an assist ruled out by the offside flag. What is the capacity here in terms of how he's going to contribute? Because his contribution is clearly not going to be just restricted to on-pitch matters.