"While Tampines Rovers have admitted their mistake, the Fourth Official and the MC (Match Commissioner) must share the blame. This oversight was entirely preventable had they intervened in time," shared a former Match Commissioner during a recent exchange, days after the 2025/26 Singapore Cup final between Lion City Sailors (LCS) and BG Tampines Rovers . "Fourth Official" making substitution during a match ( as credited ) The aforementioned match was won 2-0 by LCS after extra time, with goals from Hami Syahin and Anderson Lopes. However, the result was subsequently overturned after it was confirmed the Stags had committed the following breaches : A COSTLY SUBSTITUTION • Breach of Article 19.2 (Minimum Local Player Requirement): The club failed to maintain the mandatory minimum of four Singaporean players on the pitch at all times. This occurred in the 81st minute of the match when Joel Chew (a Singaporean player) was substituted for Yuki Kobayashi (a Japanese nati...
It was a damp squib of an affair as both Lion City Sailors (LCS) and BG Tampines Rovers failed to deliver a match worthy of that of a Singapore Cup Final. The overcautious approach by two of the biggest clubs in local football resulted in an ordeal that the fans simply had to endure. I still cannot believe this was the kind of football we saw at the Jalan Besar Stadium earlier (10/1). LCS' Kyoga Nakamura in front of the Tampines' fans who used to adore him Everything was in place for the match everyone had been looking forward to (i.e.: the recruitment of former Stags' cult figure Kyoga Nakamura to LCS was enough to hype up the match), yet the quality shown was poor. The lack of dynamism in the final third at both ends made it a pain to watch. Dragging the match into extra time felt unnecessary; it could have been avoided if both the Sailors and the Stags had been more aggressive in attack. If this is the standard for our local 'Heavyweight' clashes, what needs t...