SINGAPORE – Singapore football may be shrouded by a dark cloud these past two weeks as a result of the revelations of amateur football club Tiong Bahru FC’s (TBFC) S$500,000 donation to the Asean Football Federation, and subsequent police raids on the FAS headquarters, and the clubhouses of TBFC, Woodlands Wellington and Hougang United.

But this gloom is precisely what is driving S.League side Home United to do well in continental competition.

The Protectors are the only local team remaining in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup, after Tampines Rovers were vanquished on Wednesday (May 3) night. The latter, who reached the quarter-finals in last year’s edition, lost 4-2 at Jalan Besar Stadium to Ceres-Negro FC in a must-win clash.

Home, who sealed their progress to the next stage two weeks ago, will play Filipino outfit Global FC in the ASEAN zonal semi-finals and captain Hassan Sunny knows that his team can provide a boost to Singapore football by doing well.

“I had hoped that Tampines would… go through (together) with us, that would give a positive side (to the state of) Singapore football, you know, (with) what has happened in the past few weeks,” the goalkeeper told TODAY, referring to the drama leading up to last Saturday’s (Apr 29) Football Association of Singapore (FAS) elections. It saw the police getting involved over alleged misuse of funds and serious questions raised over the association’s accountability and transparency.

“But that’s football. We are the only team in the competition (now) and we hope that we can fly the Singapore flag high and make Singapore proud of us.”

Team-mate Abdil Qaiyyim agreed, pointing out that S.League teams have not done well in the AFC Cup in recent times – no club made it past the group stages from 2013 to 2015 – and Home now have the opportunity to improve on Tampines’ quarter-final achievement last year, and give Singapore’s reputation a boost.

“It’s still a long way (to winning the Cup) but we know what is at stake,” the defender told TODAY.

“Technically, we are representing Singapore too and after all the fiascos around Singapore football, it would be nice to have something sweet (to enjoy) in local football.

“As a club, we hope to go as far as possible and who knows, we could win it for Singapore.”

Head coach Aidil Sharin has warned, however, that Global will be formidable opposition, having gone unbeaten through a group that included 2015 AFC Cup champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT).

Home are in fine fettle, having won 10 of their 13 games across all competitions this season and losing just once, but they will travel to Manila for the first leg on May 16, four days after a big league clash against Tampines and Aidil admitted fatigue is a concern.

“I saw them (Global) play at home and they are very strong, very physical,” he told TODAY.

“(But) as long as everybody is fit, I have faith in my players; it depends on how (well) we (can) prepare (too)… it will be a challenge for us.

“If we can get a good result (there), I don’t see why we can’t beat them at home. It’s going to be another tough game (in the second leg) because that will be during the fasting month, but that is not an excuse.

“We have to challenge ourselves. This is a semi-final, I expect everyone to be eager and give everything.”