| By Wang Meng Meng | ||
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Singapore's Hanafi Akbar (left), seen here being mobbed by his team-mates after scoring against Iran, was singled out for praise for his displays during the AYG, and has been marked as a potential future Lion. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE |
THEY may have lost all three matches at the Asian Youth Games but they also showed plenty of skill, character and spirit.
As a result, the Football Association of Singapore is now planning to send its AYG Under-14 team to training camps in South-east Asia, Asia and Europe to polish their skills and strengthen the team ahead of next year's Youth Olympic Games.
FAS deputy general secretary P. Sivakumar explained that the intensive preparations will give the team an edge at next year's Youth Olympic Games.
He said: 'The challenge for them is to stay the course and earn a place in the Lions team.'
In all, the team will get to play about 20 friendly matches to prepare for the YOG.
Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Community Development, Youth and Sports) Teo Ser Luck also confirmed with The Straits Times that he is looking at ways in which the ministry can support the team ahead of the YOG.
Coached by David Sivalingam, the 18 players from the AYG squad were picked from a pool of 600 players who turned up for an open trial last June.
Since then, several of them have shown sufficient promise to progress through the ranks.
In particular, Dhukhilan Jeevamani (left-back), Jeffrey Lightfoot (centre-back), Amirul Iskandar (central midfielder), Brandon Koh (right winger) and the attacking midfield duo of Hanafi Akbar and Muhaimin Suhaimi stood out in the AYG tournament despite the defeats.
Singapore lost to eventual bronze medallists Iran (1-2), Thailand (1-4) and China (0-3). The defeats were attributed to individual errors.
However, the team earned kudos for playing attacking football to the end, while Hanafi and Muhaimin won praise for their indivudal play.
FAS head of grassroots development Jita Singh, who was also the team manager for the AYG squad, believes that with some reinforcements, the team can go further.
'These boys have now been exposed to an international competition and our next target is to do some scouting at the Schools National C Division tournament for students aged 14,' he said.
'Hopefully, we can unearth more good players, draft them into this squad and groom them together.'
Hanafi, who made his mark at the AYG with a solo goal in the loss to Iran, said: 'This team should definitely be kept together.
'We have bonded well over the time we spent training and it would be great if a number of us can progress to the national team together.'
The plans to develop the Singapore U-14 team mirror the way in which the FAS has developed its first batch of 20 National Football Academy trainees over the years.
The NFA first came into operation in 2000.
Out of the 20 trainees, all aged 16, six eventually went on to earn international caps under Lions coach Raddy Avramovic.
They are goalkeeper Hassan Sunny, defenders Hafiz Osman, Juma'at Jantan and Baihakki Khaizan, winger Ridhuan Muhammad and midfielder Shahril Ishak.
Baihakki recalled that after some reshuffling, the core of the team was kept and nurtured by the NFA.
'It really helped that my batch of players was kept together for such a long time,' Baihakki, now 25, said.
'We toured Asia and even parts of Europe like Northern Ireland, playing in youth tournaments. We grew up together and blended as a team.
'It will be a positive thing if these promising AYG boys can also be kept together.'
