National Team - Lions ● Mar 28, 2022
Lions take on Philippines in second FAS Tri-Nations Series 2022 fixture
L-R: Amirul Adli, Christopher van Huizen and Taufik Suparno at a Singapore training session, 23 March 2022
SINGAPORE, 28 MARCH 2022 – The Singapore Men’s National Team will round off their Football Association of Singapore (FAS) Tri-Nations Series 2022 campaign tomorrow evening when they face the Philippines.
The Lions notched a superb derby win in their opener on Saturday against the Malaysians and will aim to do likewise when the Azkals come calling at the National Stadium, Singapore Sports Hub for the second time in three months.
Singapore had run out 2-1 victors in the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup 2020 Group B clash in December last year, thanks to goals from Hariss Harun and Faris Ramli. But it will be a different visiting side this time as the likes of Birmingham City goalkeeper Neil Etheridge and key midfielder John Patrick Strauss are included in Scott Cooper’s team. Even without Bundesliga star Gerrit Holtmann and possibly defender Daisuke Sato, and a 2-0 defeat to Malaysia five days ago, Coach Nazri Nasir is not taking anything for granted.
“It will not be an easy game,” he said at the pre-match press conference earlier today. “I saw their game against Malaysia and although they lost, I think they did very well in the later parts of the game. I know the importance of all the players that were called up… We have players available to rotate and (you can) expect some changes.”
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With Nazri electing to use only four out of six substitutions on Wednesday, there is a prospect of the rest getting more game time tomorrow against the 129th-ranked Azkals. Striker Ikhsan Fandi, who got both goals against the Malaysians, will be hoping to get a chance to add to his international tally and Nazri had praise for him.
“He has been doing very well in the Thai League (for BG Pathum United),” he said. “I think it has been a while after the likes of (Noh) Alam Shah, (Khairul) Amri and even Fandi, his father, (that we have had) so-called target-men and now he has the number nine place… he fits that number. He is improving game by game and of course, he still has many years to come and I hope that he will try to break his father’s record (of 55 goals).”
Nazri also added that the squad generally has a clean bill of health for now, but will make his final assessments during the training session later this evening.
The match will kick off at 8pm and tickets can be purchased at fas.org.sg/tickets, while it will also be broadcast on Mediacorp’s meWATCH platform.
