S’pore U-22s inspired by Lions’ Asian Cup qualification, hope to apply lessons learnt at SEA Games

SINGAPORE – Like a rising tide that lifts all boats, the Lions’

historic qualification for the Asian Cup

has not only injected positive vibes back into Singapore football, but also inspired several younger members of the team to aim for a similar breakthrough.

Three players who were part of the Asian Cup qualifying campaign – forward Amir Syafiz, attacking midfielder Jonan Tan and defender Raoul Suhaimi – are hoping that they can apply what they have learnt and make an impact at the SEA Games Under-22 tournament in December.

The U-22s are in Group C and will start their campaign against defending champions Indonesia on Dec 5, before taking on Myanmar and the Philippines on Dec 8 and 12 respectively.

All three matches will be played at the 700th Anniversary of Chiang Mai Stadium, with the group winners and best runners-up from the three pools advancing to the semi-finals.

Young Lions captain Amir, 21, who played 17 minutes in the second half of the Lions’ 2-1 away victory over Bangladesh in June, said in an interview at the Jalan Besar Stadium on Nov 24: “I’m beyond grateful to have been a part of the qualification campaign.

“I think it’s good motivation for players like myself and those that trained with the team along the way. It gives us motivation as well to perform well in the SEA Games.

“The results from the senior team... are a good motivation for us. We want Singapore football to go far. So maybe this (SEA Games) is one of the ways that we can perform well in and make Singapore proud.”

Raoul, 20, who can play in any position across the backline, and Tan, 19, also witnessed first-hand what it takes to make history.

The duo were on the bench during the 2-1 away win against India in October, a crucial result on the road to Saudi Arabia.

Tan said: “The most important thing I learnt from them was their desire to win. They had the heart to win, to score, to keep on improving. And even after they were 1-0 down, they didn’t give up hope, they continued to fight. And that really inspires me to have that same mentality.”

Raoul added: “What I remember most is witnessing how disciplined they are, honestly.”

“Someone like Hariss (Harun), he’s very disciplined, on and off the pitch. He does so much to prepare well before training, and even after training, he does his own stretches. Whenever I see them doing all these things, it makes me want to work on myself and improve myself.”

Desire and resilience are the bare minimum that the current team will need to display to stand any chance in Chiang Mai.

Results at past editions and the current side’s recent showings do not bode well.

Singapore finished their 2023 Cambodia Games campaign with just a solitary point after a goal-less draw with Laos. Their results in Phnom Penh included a 7-0 thumping by Malaysia.

Since Firdaus Kassim’s appointment as head coach in June, the Young Lions have yet to win a competitive fixture, whether as an U-22 national team or with foreigners beefing up the Singapore Premier League (SPL) squad.

In the SPL, the Young Lions have lost all five of their matches, while all three of their U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers against Yemen, Vietnam and Bangladesh in September ended in defeat.

During their final phase of SEA Games preparation in Dubai, the U-22s went down 6-0 to the United Arab Emirates on Nov 15 and lost 2-0 to Iraq on Nov 18.

Asked about the results, Firdaus said “nothing that has happened in the past few months is something that we haven’t predicted”.

But he insisted that “context matters” when viewing these results, insisting that the team had been competitive against Yemen and Vietnam despite them being tough opponents.

He said: “Against Bangladesh for 65 minutes, we were very, very good at creating chances but we didn’t finish our chances, and at this level, your mistakes will be punished. But in all the other games, I think we competed and gave a very good account of ourselves, despite us playing most of the time with players who are three, four or even five years younger.”

Firdaus also pointed out that he does not deploy the full complement of seven foreigners that each team can field in the SPL. In all five matches, the Young Lions have had just four foreigners in their starting XI.

He said: “Context is very important. The SPL quality has increased by a few notches with seven foreigners per team. It will be very easy for us to go into games now and say we are also going to play seven foreigners, but at what cost?

“Why would we want to do that at the expense of the game minutes of the local players?

“And these are players whom we feel if they go back to the clubs, they will not be getting regular game time. So we are using this platform to expose the players to as many minutes as possible.”

On the road ahead in Chiang Mai, Firdaus said he and his side will not look beyond the first match.

“There’s too many permutations for us to worry about (in terms of qualification), so most important for us is just to get to the first game and focus and put our whole attention in.

“Hopefully a good performance will translate to a good result and we’ll move on from there.”