Football's Not Coming Home

Thai hearts were broken on Sunday night when the island nation of Singapore beat them in the ASEAN championship final.
60,000 fans, most in yellow shirts, packed into the Stadium Supachalasai in Bangkok to cheer on the national side.
In the first leg in Singapore, Thailand walked off the pitch after a dodgy decision by the Malaysian referee. With tensions running high before the second leg more than 400 police officers and soldiers were inside the stadium.
Trailing 2-1 from the first leg, Thailand completely overwhelmed Singapore in the first half, and were rewarded for their efforts in the 36th minute when Pipat Thonkanya deftly headed over an incoming defender and volleyed into the roof of the net. He ran over to the touchline, dropped to his knees, bowed his head and gave a respectful wai to the ecstatic supporters.
With the tie level at 2-2, Thailand would have been crowned champions on away goals if the match had remained 1-0.
But with just six minutes remaining Singapore's Khairul Amri raced through on goal and fired a shot past Thailand's statuesque goalkeeper. Singapore held on for the remainder of the game to be crowned champions and pick up a cheque for 100,000USD.
This was the first Asian football match I've watched from start to finish. It's usually worth a watch for five minutes, just for comedy value of seeing passes as wayward as a blind archer's arrows. But this was a tense and exciting game. Mrs Wow's screams of enthusiasm were thankfully broken up by a commercial every five minutes.
With a population of only 4 million you would think this was a remakable achievement for Singapore, but with a team made up of English, Serbian, Chinese and Nigerian nationals it's hardly an achievment on a par with Wimbledon's 1989 FA cup win over Liverpool. Like the Republic of Ireland, who have a policy of if your great uncle's half cousin's brother-in-law was Irish, you qualify for the national side, Singapore seem to have no scruples when it comes to squad selection.
Aparently Laos, who finished bottom of their group, have already sent scouts over to Brazil. With baskets full of sticky rice they plan to lure impoverished teenagers from the shanty towns of Rio De Janeiro in preperation for the 2009 ASEAN championships.