We want to win Tourney: Nazri

National Under-23 coach Nazri Nasir has called on his charges to show results by winning the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Under-23 Championship which kicks off in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, tomorrow.

Singapore are in Group C with Thailand and Vietnam and will face their opponents on Wednesday and Saturday respectively.

Hosts Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Philippines and Brunei are in Group A, while Malaysia, Myanmar and Laos are in Group B.

The three group winners and best-placed runners-up will advance to the semi-finals on Feb 24.

Only the winners' trophy matters for Nazri. The 51-year-old said: "We want to win. We aren't going there (just) to participate. It's been a while since we did well in regional tournaments, especially at youth level."

The former national skipper added that the AFF U-23 Championship is not a tournament for youth development.

He added: "The U-23s should be knocking on the door of the national team.

"The players have to fight every minute, push their limit and take responsibility. There is no room for reasons like youth development or that we are young. It's about winning and the players must believe in that."

Singapore U-23 captain Jacob Mahler said the players are heeding the words of their coach by displaying a desire to win even during training drills and games.

The 21-year-old defender added: "It's (a winning mentality) what we are lacking in Singapore. We haven't got the results we've wanted at the youth tournaments. We can't use the excuse of development.

"Results matter and they show things are going in the positive way. We do want to go all the way and win the championship and create history."

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the team have played only three competitive matches in the last two years - at October's Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers.

Then, Singapore beat the Philippines 1-0, drew 2-2 with Timor-Leste and lost 5-1 to South Korea.

A good performance against Vietnam and Thailand will strengthen their case for inclusion in the May 12-23 SEA Games in Hanoi and even the Sept 10-25 Asian Games in Hangzhou.

Their goal of winning the tournament will be boosted by their rivals' decision to field under-strength sides and the absence of holders Indonesia.

The Football Association of Thailand confirmed that it will send its Under-19 squad - only one out of their 23-strong squad is older than 20. Vietnam will field their Under-21 players, said the AFF website.

Indonesia, who won the last edition of the tournament in 2019, had pulled out due to a number of Covid-19 cases in the squad.

But Singapore will be missing some key players.

Singapore Premier League Young Player of the Year Nur Adam Abdullah is out with a knee injury, while The Sunday Times understands that Young Lions duo Joel Chew and Arshad Shamim have national service commitments.

While the most of the squad departed for Cambodia yesterday, four players - Zikos Chua, Irfan Najeeb, Daniel Goh and Khairin Nadim - will join them only after being medically cleared after testing positive for Covid-19 last week.

Nazri said that extra care will be taken to ensure there is no outbreak within the squad.

Singapore's players and officials, who will be in a tournament bubble in Cambodia, will undergo polymerase chain reaction tests on the eve of matches, while antigen rapid tests will be done daily.