Singapore coach Bernd Stange has acknowledged that their friendly against Laos tomorrow night is a crucial one in terms of restoring the confidence to players and supporters alike.The Lions were defeated by Oman, China and Hong Kong in their last three outings, and Stange is aware a win at the Jalan Besar Stadium will be crucial.'We have to beat Laos, that's our goal and we want to take some points for the world rankings, and we want secondly, of course, a good performance,' he declared at a pre-match press conference earlier today afternoon.'It's very important for us to stop losing matches; it's a golden rule in football [that you] don't lose three in a row [because] then you get problems [like] questions from journalists, fans don't buy tickets and all such things.'With regulars like goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud, centre-back Safuwan Baharudin and forward Qiu Li injured, Stange is likely to give youngsters like Shahfiq Ghani, Sahil Suhaimi and Adam Swandi runouts.'[I will field] a mixed lineup, but it will be a good team and we will test [out] some players,' the German said.'Maybe we give a chance to some youngsters, some key SEA Games players. I haven't decided, we have a final training session tonight, and it will be a mix between experienced players and youngsters, but definitely it will be a very young team tomorrow.'It will be difficult for us because Laos is not such a bad team, but I'm confident that we are strong enough to have a good performance tomorrow.'Lions captain Shahril Ishak echoed his coach's sentiments as he looked forward to the game.
'Of course we are very disappointed to lose three games in a row, but we have to go on and to improve our team,' he pointed out.
'the mood in the camp is that everyone is excited [because] we are back together for international games and of course we want to do well as a team.'
Laos coach Kokichi Kimura revealed that they only brought three senior players above 23 for the game, but believes they can beat Singapore.
'I hope tomorrow will be a good game,' he expressed. 'Starting line-up, I think [only] one senior player will [be included], maybe. Training [on the artificial pitch is] okay, but the game will be difficult, I think.'
With the team having their sights set firmly on the year-end SEA Games, Kimura boldy targeted the gold medal, although their first objective is to reach the semi-finals.
When quizzed about his thoughts on facing a largely Under-23 Laos side, Stange was quick to point out that 13 of his 23-man squad were eligible for the Games themselves.
'Check our national team, from Izwan, Faritz [Hameed], Safuwan, Shakir [Hamzah], Hariss [Harun], Shahfiq, Sahil, Gabriel [Quak]... we have a SEA Games team added with some experienced guys,' he asserted.
'It is similar [to Laos], I can't see a difference. The majority are SEA Games players, there are a lot of youngsters in our team [and there is] absolutely not one per cent diference.'
No comments:
Post a Comment