Football: Lions to play Vietnam, India in Tri-nation friendlies in September

The Lions, under head coach Takayuki Nishigaya, will travel to Ho Chi Minh for the matches. PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - The Lions will play international 'A' friendly matches against Vietnam and India during the upcoming Fifa window in September, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) announced on Saturday (Aug 13).

Takayuki Nishigaya's charges will travel to Ho Chi Minh for the matches against Vietnam and India on Sept 21 and 24 respectively. Both games will be held at the Thong Nhat Stadium as part of a triangular tournament.

Singapore, ranked 159th in the world, last faced Vietnam (No. 97) in June 2016 in the friendly AYA Bank Cup tournament. It ended 0-0.

Their last encounter with India (No. 104) was a 2-0 friendly victory in October 2012 that saw Khairul Amri and Fazrul Nawaz get on the scoresheet.

Head coach Nishigaya said: "We are looking forward to the opportunity to play Vietnam and India, teams that are really strong and will give us the opportunity to further test ourselves as we start our preparations for the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup (previously known as the AFF Championship) in December.

"At the recent Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup 2023 qualification campaign in June, while we did not get the results against Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, the performances from the boys were encouraging and they showed they can adapt to my style.

"We need to continue playing strong opponents in order to further improve and be better prepared, and hence this upcoming tournament in Ho Chi Minh is timely for us to be part of."

The finalised squad will be announced closer to the start of the window, which runs from Sept 19 to 27.

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