SINGAPORE - A 6-2 run against Seychelles in their opening game of the FAS Tri-Nations Series 2022 (Women's) earlier this week was a huge confidence boost for the Lionesses, but a bigger task awaits them on Monday (April 11) in world No. 49 Papua New Guinea.
The Papuans, who sit 86 rungs above Singapore in the world rankings, thrashed Seychelles 9-0 at the Jalan Besar Stadium two days ago in their first international match since July 2019.
Six different players got on the scoresheet in that game, with forward Marie Kaipu and midfielder Ramona Quintina Padio both bagging braces.
Singapore can expect a tough encounter against them but head coach Stephen Ng is not too concerned about results, stressing that the main focus for the team at the triangular tournament is on their preparations for the May 12-23 SEA Games in Hanoi.
He said: "This is still a practice match leading to our major tournament. We have a periodisation plan all the way to May's SEA Games - this is to test out what we have so regardless of the result, it's important to look at the performance, whether the players can execute what we've worked on as we prepare for the group stages."
Back in the SEA Games for the first time since 2003, the Lionesses were handed a favourable draw for the competition last Thursday, when they were placed with Thailand, Laos and Myanmar in Group B.
While world No. 43 Thailand - who have featured at the World Cup twice - will be formidable rivals, the Lionesses avoided the Philippines and Vietnam, both of whom have qualified for next year's World Cup.
Ng said: "Regardless of what teams we draw, the important thing is ourselves and how we perform. We have to look at our own preparations instead of the teams we are playing. This is the first time after many years that we are participating in the SEA Games so it's important that we look at how we prepare and perform."
Among the areas that Ng and his charges have been working on are transitions and improving the speed of play.
Emphasising the importance of working as a team, captain Ernie Sulastri Sontaril was pleased to see how the relatively young team - over a third of the 25-strong squad are aged 20 or below - have been working together ahead of the game against the Papuans.
The 33-year-old said: "Tomorrow is a test for us on how to execute things as a team in both attacking and defending. This team is a good mix of young, experienced and overseas players who came back.
"The main thing is how we work together as a team... we have great chemistry as a team and that goes back to coach because he really emphasised on team work and that will help our team to perform better on and off the field."
Ng also insisted that the team would not be parking the bus against the free-scoring Papuans.
He said: "We will look at the different variations of the players and the combinations. There will be some changes in terms of team positioning and at the same time, we are looking at how we can get better balance as we approach different teams."
Papua New Guinea head coach Nicola Demaine was pleased with their first run out against Seychelles and plans to use the Singapore game to test things out.
"It was our first game together in a long time and my first game with the group so we're still working on different combinations of players and different things that we want to keep on the field," said Demaine, who took charge of the team in November last year.
"I was happy with some of the ways we created goals going forward, some of the combinations, creativity and the way we tried to be a bit more clever. What I want us to do better at is our ability to problem solve on the field when something comes up."
