MAGICAL TOUCH

At the start of 2007, coach Raddy Avramovic established Singapore as the kingpins of the region when his boys retained the Asean Football Championship. By beating Thailand 2-0 at home and drawing 1-1 away in the two-legged final, he also established a 15-match unbeaten run in the competition under him that went as far back as 2004.

Not one to rest om his laurels, he also blooded new talent. He handed out international debuts to the likes on Aleksander Duric and Hariss Harun, who at only 16 years 7 months and 5 days, took to the field in a friendly against North Korea. Both players have since become mainstays of the Lions.

Raddy also led the team in qualifying for the third round of the Asian World Cup - a first for Singapore. He overcame the loss of captain Aide Iskandar by selecting the seasoned Indra Sahdan to lead his charges on the pitch. In December, the dedicated coach extended his magicla touch to the Under-23 team who achieved a SEA Games bronze medal - Singapore's first in football in years.

Indeed, the Serbian has achieved a lot since coming here to coach in 2003. Deservingly, he becomes only the third football coach - after Jita Singh and the late Choo Seng Quee - to earn Singapore's Coach of the Year Award.

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