Is this the best crop of young local players Singapore can really offer?

Last year, Young Lions comfortably beat Cambodian team Phnom Penh Crown 2-0 at Jalan Besar in the Singapore Cup preliminary round.

On Monday, it was the same score, but just that it was the guest team who made it through to the next round for the first time in four attempts at the expense of the Singapore side.

With only one (dud) foreign player and another suspended, the Singaporeans failed to make the step up in front of a sparse crowd at Jurong West.

It is one matter to lose and get knocked out of the competition, it is also how they do it that has an impact too.

Sadly to say, the class of 2009 might as well not bother to show up and give a walkover as their football was nondescript, to be polite.

The passing was non-existant--almost every ball they touched went straight to a red shirt (Young Lions were wearing the away kit of white that day; Phnom Penh red).

There was no coordination, every player had his own thoughts on how he wanted to play but there was no connection, from defence to midfield to attack.

When a simple short pass to a colleague would suffice, the player would attempt to pump high up instead in hope that more often than not went to nought.

The Singaporeans had lots of fitness and pace, but they left their football brains either at the team bus or worse, Jalan Besar.

And it was not as though Phnom Penh were at the same level as Singapore's top club Singapore Armed Forces (SAFFC).

The top Cambodian team were found wanting technically, but they made up for the gap in quality with hard work, determination, refusal to give up and a sound game plan they stuck to from the first to final whistle.

With these qualities, they deserved to win and advance to the quarter-finals where Thai Premier League leaders Bangkok Glass await.

The signs of such bad quality football from the current Young Lions were already evident from this year's S R Nathan Challenge Trophy.

The club had numerous players who were involved in various institutions, all of whom succumbed to eventual deserving champions National University of Singapore (NUS).

Here is the list of the institutions that lost to NUS and the Young Lions involved.

Nanyang Polytechnic (group stage, final)--Hafiz Abu Sujad, Faritz Abdul Hameed

ITE (semi-final)--Izwan Mahbud, Afiq Yunos, Eddie Chang, Irwan Shah, Khairul Nizam, Fadhil Noh

Temasek Polytechnic (group stage)--Jasper Chan, Eugene Luo, Shahir Hamzah

Gabriel Quak was involved with Republic Polytechnic that finished fourth in the tournament.

12 Young Lions, well-paid by student athletes' standards and regular exposure to professional training and senior competitive football, and yet could not even beat a university team that do not have present S-League or Prime League players in their ranks (although they had one who used to play in the S-League and two others in Prime League).

Something must be really wrong with the way young players are being developed here.

If that NUS team had played Phnom Penh, whatever the result was, they would have played with plenty of heart and at least decent looking intelligent football.

No wonder present Young Lions coach Terry Pathmanathan was hopping mad after the cup game.

A wake up call and time for these young players that they are worth the dollars they are paid. Otherwise they should look for some other job somewhere.

Perhaps the need to exclude the national Under-23 football team from the biennial Southeast Asian Games to shore up the foundations of local youth football development cannot be ruled out too.