So why do the Lions have yet another Japanese coach?

Synopsis: Every fourth Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times dives into a sports topic and tackles the hard questions with its guests on Hard Tackle.

In this episode of Hard Tackle, Deepanraj Ganesan is joined by Football Association of Singapore president, Bernard Tan and the newly appointed head coach of the Singapore national football team, Tsutomu Ogura.

For the first time since Ogura’s appointment on Feb 1, Tan describes the process undertaken by the FAS in terminating former head coach Takayuki Nishigaya’s contract and then selecting Ogura to lead the Lions. 

Ogura also shares his journey to becoming the Lions’ head coach, his vision for the team and his plans ahead of his first match in charge of the Lions, when they take on China in a World Cup qualifier on Mar 21. 

Highlights (click/tap above):

2:49 When and how did the process to fire Takayuki Nishigaya and hire Tsutomu Ogura began?  

8:30 Ogura’s initial thoughts when he was offered the Singapore national team head coach job 

14:19 What gave Ogura the edge over the other candidates?  

24:07 Ogura on the importance of working with a local coach  

35:38 Does FAS president Bernard take sole responsibility for the hire of Ogura? 

Read: https://str.sg/q8ro

Produced by: Deepanraj Ganesan (gdeepan@sph.com.sg) & Amirul Karim

Edited by: Amirul Karim

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