Best Goalie in Asia - Lionel Lewis

HU stormed to the top of the Sleague with a 2-0 win over arch rivals cum defending champions, SAFFC. With this victory, it meant tat the protectors have defeated both the favourites for this season's title after having beaten the stags 3-1 towards the end of last month. Looking at the league table, HU has conceded ONLY 7 goals in 10 ten games. And for those of you who have caught last friday's game or have been following the protectors glory trail this season, you will certainly have taken note of one player in the home united ranks - Lionel Lewis.

Lionel made numerous crucial saves in last friday's game and his first save (as seen in the sequence of 4pics above) from Ashrin Shariff when the game was less than a min is deemed as most crucial. It would have given HU a mountain to climb if Lionel had not pushed the ball away.

Despite Home United's postion at the top of the league, most people would think that the 2003 sleague champions had an easy ride so far, but I beg to differ. The 24 years old Lionel is the difference between HU and the other teams. Balesteir coach, Abdul Karim Razzak, described Lionel as a goalkeeper that can win 20 points for his team in a season. Similarly, how often do u hear the opposition coach singling Lionel out for praises, be it in Sleague or international games? It will be no surprise if Lionel is named the Sleague Player of the Season if Home United were to bag the Sleague title.


Lionel is a player who needs no introduction given his exploits with the Singapore Lions in recent years. However, for those who are interested in some facts and figures abt your favourite football idol, here are some info I got from the Wiki and also based on what I can recall.

• Date of Birth : 16 Dec 1982
• Height : 1.88m
• Previous Club: Geylang United, Young Lions
  
• International Debut : Against the Maldives on 9 April 2002. (Aged 19 at the time)
• S-League Appearance as of end 2006 Season : 145 appearances

Lionel started his career with Geylang United and joined Young Lions in 2003 and was "loaned" to the protectors for their AFC campaign for 2004. The lanky goalie with a huge following made his debut for the lions in 2002. However, he only managed to grab the "no.18" jersey from Hassan Sunny in 2004 and since then, he has been our regular goalkeeper in international tournaments. It was that same year that the Nanyang polytechnic graduate came into the limelight with his heroic displays btwn the posts that won him the honour of the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament.

In 2006, the police officer was nominated for the AFC player of the year award, the 1st Singaporean to be nominated for the award in the 13th year history of the award. The nomination makes it sweeter as he is the only goalkeeper among the 10 nominees.

The rise of Singapore Soccer since 2004 and Home United this season is coupled with the emergence of Lionel as an uncompromising goalkeeper. His huge frame makes it almost impossible to score against him in 1 to 1 situations. Whenever Lionel stands btwn the posts, his agility, reflexes, safe handling and astute reading of the game gives extreme confidence to the rest of his teammates, especially the defenders. It is with this air of confidence that has seen Singapore defended its ASEAN cup successfully and HU lead in the Sleague. May there be more triumphs in future.

People say that strikers win you games, and hence the strikers are usually paid the most in a club. (look at Ronaldo, Ballack, Shevchenko) but in my view, Lionel wins games for HU and Singapore. He made numerous incredible saves so far in his career and hopefully Lionel can be the 1st Singaporean to play in a European league after the Fandi and Sundram era. All the best Lionel, the Peter Cech cum Buffon of Singapore!

*the pictures are screenshots taken from Mediacorp CH5 and ESPN during the Tiger Cup 2004, 2007 and Sleague telecast.