A bar, an exhibition, and two football legends

By REDintern Hariharan Rajandeeran

Singapore, Thursday, July 29, 2010 – Footballing legends Bryan Robson and Romario graced Singapore with their presence, with both heroes attending different events at different locations.

Manchester United legend, and current Thailand Head Coach Bryan Robson was in Singapore for the Soccerex Asian Forum, and took time off to meet his fans at the Manchester United Cafe Bar in Boat Quay.

Bryan Robson or “Robbo” or even “Captain Marvel” if you will, strolled into the cafe to the surprise of the star-struck fans who took some time to find their voices.

Robbo first attended to the media as they riddled him with a series of questions.

The first question Robbo tackled was if he found any difference between South-East Asian football and European football.

“The power of players in Europe is stronger. The technique of the Asian players is very good. Asian players must work on their fitness to compete with European players,” replied Robbo.

Robbo was then posed a tricky question: “As a manager, who would you pick? Cantona or Messi?”

Flustered at first, Robbo plotted his escape saying both play a different brand of football. He finally settled on a player saying, “I would have Paul Gascoigne on my team!”

The next question received a straight answer from Robbo. He was asked if Manchester City’s spending capabilities meant there would be a shift of power in the league.

“No,” said Robbo simply, as a smile flashed across his face. “Just because you can sign expensive players doesn’t mean you’re a great team,” he added.

He went on to predict the English Premier League winner for the season as either being Manchester United or Chelsea.

Captain Marvel also had some words of wisdom for the Youth Olympic Games athletes: “Have dedication to the sport. Do the maximum you can do and have the confidence to achieve. You must have the belief!”

Former Singapore captain, Aide Iskandar, was also present and shared his thoughts on the event: “It’s great to have Bryan Robson here! It gives the fans an opportunity to get up close with him.”

Robbo signed autographs and took pictures with the Manchester United fans as they were in full voice cheering for their longest-serving captain.

Not too far away, Brazilian legend Romario made an appearance at the Atrium@Orchard, outside Plaza Singapura, to witness the opening ceremony of “Football: The Brazilian Passion”, a month-long exhibition.

Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, was invited to the opening ceremony as the guest of honour and opened the exhibition to the public.

In his speech, Dr Balakrishnan said that he was delighted to see Brazilian football being shared with Singapore as “Brazil and football are synonymous”.

The highlight of the ceremony, however, was goal-scoring machine Romario. Romario also gave a speech saying that he was happy to be in Singapore and that “It is great that Singapore share the same passion for football as Brazil”.

Brazilian Ambassador Paulo Alberto got the crowd excited as he said that the dream would be to have Singapore qualify for the World Cup in Brazil in 2014 and go on to lift the cup. He ended by saying, “It is always good to dream”, inducing a roar of laughter from the crowd.

After the VIPs took a tour of the exhibition, they were entertained with some Brazilian music which added to the carnival atmosphere. There was Brazilian food and drinks served with a mini futsal tournament on the side.

Originally here for a three-day stay in Singapore, Romario had to fly off early this morning. However, the football exhibition will last an entire month till August 22nd.