Time to get behind Fandi and his players

WHEN it comes to watching World Cup football on TV, Singapore ranks very high as far as interest and following are concerned.

Taking leave from work, happy to be deprived of sleep and full engagement in coffee-shop and hawker-centre debate, Singaporeans find every way to be clued in on the matches for the duration of the month-long tournament every four years.

So it is quite surprising that for a nation that once dreamed big about World Cup qualification, hardly a murmur was raised when it was announced last week by the sport's world governing body Fifa that it is considering having a record 48 teams for the next tournament in Qatar.