New coach Tatsuma Yoshida wants Lions to 'work hard together and smile together'
SINGAPORE — He may not have a resume that sends pulses racing, but newly-appointed Singapore national football coach Tatsuma Yoshida has pledged that he and the Lions will “work hard together, smile together and enjoy together”, as he bids to lift them to the top of Southeast Asia football.
The 44-year-old Japanese, who had a short-lived playing stint with S-League side Jurong FC in 2002, has returned to the Republic to take up the hottest seat – some would call it a poisoned chalice – in local football on a two-year contract, with the option of a two-year extension.
As he was unveiled during a Football Association of Singapore (FAS) media conference on Thursday (30 May), Yoshida wasted little time setting out his ambitions and how to achieve it.
He said in halting English, “We want to go to the top of Southeast Asia, and we must be prepared to work hard and have the hunger to achieve it. We want to go together, work hard together, smile together and enjoy together, hopefully.
“I have seen the Lions play during last year’s AFF Suzuki Cup. They are well organised with good pressing, and their defence is not too bad.
“To make the next step together, I want to show them how to attack and build attacks quickly, how to get into the box for scoring chances. Not big problems, but we have to play hard and with passion.”
Lengthy search for Sundram’s replacement
Yoshida arrives after a lengthy search for a permanent replacement for V. Sundram Moorthy, who stepped down in April 2018 after a series of poor results and uninspiring performances. Coincidentally, Sundram was Yoshida’s coach during his lone year at Jurong FC.
Sundram’s resignation followed the unsuccessful tenure of Germany’s Bernd Stange, who failed to get the Lions past the opening stage of the 2014 AFF Championship. Fans have to go back to 2012 for the last trophy-winning Lions team, coached by Serbia’s Raddy Avramovic.
In between this year-long search, former Lions stalwarts Fandi Ahmad and Nazri Nasir took interim charge of the Lions - Fandi during their AFF Suzuki Cup campaign in November and Nazri at the AirMarine Cup friendly tournament in March.
Yet, Yoshida’s managerial career in the J-League does not boast impressive achievements. After his playing career ended in 2002, he served as an academy coach as well as sports director with J1 side Kashiwa Reysol.
Yoshida took up his first head coach position only in 2015, leading the Kashima Reysol senior side to 10th position out of 18 teams in the J1 League. In 2016, he moved on to another J1 side, Albirex Niigata, but the team struggled to a lowly 15th position, just one spot above the relegation zone.
His last head-coach tenure in Japan was in 2017, when he took charge of J1 strugglers Ventforet Kofu but could not prevent the side from being relegated.
Fits FAS’ desired head-coach profile
Despite Yoshida’s less-than-stellar CV, FAS president Lim Kia Tong insists that he fits into the association’s desired profile of a head coach with a philosophy of playing high-intensity, fast-moving football.
More importantly, Lim said that Yoshida will not be a head coach who is out of tune with the ongoing development of youth players from the national age-group squads.
He said during the media conference, “The main reason why we focused our search for a new head coach in Japan instead of Europe was that, in Japan, the head coaches are not isolated in their work. They understand their team’s philosophy from youth teams upwards and follow through the players’ development right up to senior level.
“Tatsuma’s experience with youth development was a key factor that the selection committee and I took into consideration. In addition, he brings with him the exemplary attitude, strict discipline and hard work that the Japanese are known for.
“We expect him to bring Singapore up the Fifa Rankings under his leadership.”
Working closely with Fandi, Nazri
Yoshida will be working closely with both Fandi, who helms the Under-22 national side, as well as Nazri as his assistant, to develop a pipeline of players for the Lions, who are currently ranked 160th in the 211-team Fifa Rankings.
His first matches in charge will come as early as next week, when the Lions host two international friendlies at the National Stadium – against Solomon Islands on 8 June and Myanmar on 11 June.
National captain Hariss Harun told Yahoo News Singapore that he is looking forward to seeing how Yoshida will communicate and execute his footballing ideas to the Lions.
“I think the players are receptive, and eager to find out how he can help improve our results,” the 28-year-old midfielder said. “We have gone through several years of transition, and hopefully he can also bring in quality youth players to boost our squad.”
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