Football: Finalised SEA Games squad unveiled as Aide Iskandar axes nine players

Young Lions coach Aide Iskandar (in blue) overseeing his charges during a training session on May 9, 2015. Aide has made his decision on the team for the SEA Games, selecting the 20-man roster out of the initial 29 players. -- ST PHOTO: LAU FOOK KONG
Young Lions coach Aide Iskandar (in blue) overseeing his charges during a training session on May 9, 2015. Aide has made his decision on the team for the SEA Games, selecting the 20-man roster out of the initial 29 players. -- ST PHOTO: LAU FOOK KONG 

The Football Association Of Singapore (FAS) has released the finalised 20-man selection that will represent Singapore at next month's SEA Games.

Head coach Aide Iskandar made his decision on the team after overseeing the initial 29 players' performances over the last few weeks, which included a centralised training at the Singapore Sports School, a training stint in Japan, and two international matches against the Laos and Timor Leste Under-23 sides.

Notable exceptions include winger Christopher van Huizen, who was a member of the recent Malaysian FA Cup winning team, and forward Iqbal Hussein, who recently captained Singapore at the AFC Under-23 Championships.

While Aide congratulated those that made the final squad for the Games, he was quick to caution that there was still a lot of work for them to do to get a medal.

He said: "The players are aware that this is just the beginning of the final lap of their SEA Games journey, and that they have to remained focused and disciplined."

He also expressed his struggle at making the tough decisions of who to leave out of the equation for the biennial meet, saying: "My coaches and I had sleepless nights over it. It was a very close call for the nine players who were dropped because competition for their positions was very tight."

The Young Lions will play the Philippines, Myanmar, Indonesia and Cambodia in the group stage. They will face the Philippines in their first match on June 1 at the Jalan Besar Stadium. Tickets are available online at tickets.seagames2015.com

The Singapore SEA Games team: Syazwan Buhari, Rudy Khairullah; Shakir Hamzah, Al-Qaasimy Rahman, Sheikh Abdul Hadi, Fadli Kamis, Amirul Adli, Ho Wai Loon; Faris Ramli, Safirul Sulaiman, Stanely Ng, Anumanthan Mohan Kumar, Adam Swandi, Suria Prakash, Pravin Guanasagaran; Shahfiq Ghani, Sahil Suhaimi, Shamil Sharif, Irfan Fandi, Amy Recha Pristifana.

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