MADRID – Physical conditioning and tactical understanding are two areas Singaporeans lose out on in youth football, according to Juan Florit, head of football projects at La Liga.
But there is a silver lining, said the Spaniard, who has observed 20 Singapore youngsters in Madrid on a month-long stint at the La Liga Academy and also collected feedback from his coaches based in the Republic.
On Monday, Singapore’s Unleash The Roar! (UTR) project announced it will work with the La Liga Academy as its first overseas training partner.
Spain’s top flight had joined as strategic partner in November 2021. At least seven La Liga coaches have since helmed key positions alongside local coaches in 10 School Football Academies (SFAs) in Singapore, including Jaime Serra, who is the head coach for the attachment in Madrid.
Florit said: “The good thing of the players from Singapore is that they have a very good capacity to learn and to improve quickly; this is not always the case in other countries.
“I know also a little bit of the educational culture of the kids in Singapore... I think they are very committed, focused and understand very well and quickly the messages that is sent to them.
“And this is good for a coach. Because when you train, when you work with young kids and you realise that they understand what you are telling them, and they learn quickly and in a good way, it’s good for everyone.”
He also oversees the academy’s pioneer batch of international enrollees – 37 boys aged 13 to 18, including Denzel Ari Thrumurgan, a 14-year-old St Joseph’s Institution student – here on an initial 10 month-long programme until 2023.
On Denzel, Florit added: “A difficult start but he is doing well now. Many of the players coming from South-east Asia are similar.
“Usually they have two main areas of improvement because they are technically skilled players but, physically, they can be a little bit weaker than other nationalities...
“Tactically, at the beginning, they found some challenges in the decision-making and in-game understanding. And I think, especially in the second one, Denzel is improving a lot with our coaches.”
The national Under-16 and U-19 teams had campaigns to forget at their respective Asean Football Federation (AFF) Championship tournaments in July and August, both in Indonesia.
The U-19s lost to Cambodia (1-0), Timor Leste (1-0) and Laos (3-1) but drew 0-0 with eventual champions Malaysia in their tournament from July 2-15.
In August, the U-16s opened their campaign with a 5-1 defeat by Vietnam, before being trounced 9-0 by eventual champions Indonesia. They ended with a 2-1 loss to the Philippines.
It is hoped the La Liga tie-up will reverse this trend.
Despite temperatures dropping to 8 deg C, Spain has already benefited Muhammad Izzan Akid, an Oasis Primary School pupil.
A big fan of Lions brothers Ikhsan and Ilhan Fandi, the 12-year-old said: “The weather has been very cold and it was initially very tough, but we have all adapted.
“We have learnt so much here and grown really close. One thing that has really changed is the intensity we approach matches and training with.
“I hope I can be back here for a longer-term stint one day.”
