Singapore Select XI vs. Juventus: How Juve Will Line Up in Pre

With a new manager on the bench and the new Serie A season looming on the horizon, Juventus' upcoming friendly with a Singapore Select XI at the Asian city's brand new National Stadium is more important than such a game would normally be.

Juve have been by far the strongest side in Italy for the last three years, but over the summer their main rivals have all made ground.

The pressure is on Massimiliano Allegri to prove that he's a top-level coach worthy of replacing Antonio Conte, rather than Milan's cast-off, signed in a hurry to fill the hole left by the the new Italy boss' departure from Turin.

The new manager will also have to show that he's able to adapt his game, because on the face of it the Juve squad isn't perfectly suited to his style of play.

Most obviously, the Bianconeri rely on Andrea Pirlo to get things moving in the centre, and it was Allegri who famously sent the 35-year-old midfielder away from the San Siro and into the arms of the Old Lady three years ago, thinking him too old and too slow to be useful.

Conte's replacement will know all to well what a mistake he made and must now rectify it, because dropping the iconic Italian will send the wrong message and almost certainly attract a barrage of criticism.

Elsewhere, Juve are probably still better-suited to playing with three central defenders and two wing-backs, even with Patrice Evra's arrival.

It's been some time since we've seen the Frenchman at his best, but Juventini everywhere will be hoping he can be reinvigorated in Turin because, perhaps more than any other player, the new formation with a four-man defence-and the new manager-depends on him being a success at left-back.

On the plus side for Allegri, he's never had a squad this talented. His Scudetto-winning Milan from 2011 had some brilliant individuals-Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva-but it lacked quality throughout and was nowhere near as cohesive as the current Juventus line-up.

The flip side of that is that the 47-year-old no longer has any excuses.

He divided opinion at Milan, but he earned the sympathy of many because he had his best players sold out from under him and was given little in the way of replacements. He also had to work with a board and a chairman that was less than harmonious and rarely supportive.

Things are different in Turin, and if he fails it will be squarely on him.

Rebuilding Juve in his image, and winning, will prove his detractors wrong and hopefully provide the Bianconeri with the fresh spark they need after three years at the top of Serie A.

Juve looked lively against the A-League All-Stars in Sydney last week but still managed to concede twice to a disparate mix of players hobbled together from a weaker league, so the 3-2 win shouldn't have anyone cheering too loudly.

In Australia they needed some of Paul Pogba's genius to equalise in the 88th minute-Simone Pepe eventually snatched the winner in extra time. They'll want to put things to bed quicker in Singapore, because a poor performance against such opposition would only serve to undermine confidence on the eve of the new league campaign.

Whether or not the line-up will be the same will be interesting.

Against the Australians, Allegri stuck to a 3-5-2 like the Juve of old, but he's more comfortable using four at the back and realistically, a 33-year-old Evra is not much use as a wing-back.

The change to a 4-3-3 or 4-3-2-1 seems inevitable, so it would make sense for the manager to give it a spin now rather than waiting for the league to start, when he'll be under a lot more pressure.

If he does go for four at the back, expect the line-up to feature Gigi Buffon in goal, with Stephan Lichtsteiner on the right, Evra on the left and two of Girgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci or Angelo Ogbonna in the centre. Thus far, Ogbonna's Juve career hasn't gone the way most thought it would when he arrived from Torino, but with a new manager he now has another chance to prove his worth.

The Juventus midfield picks itself. Arturo Vidal was left out of the squad in Australia because of a niggling knee problem, but if fit he should join Paul Pogba and Pirlo in the centre, with the underrated Claudio Marchisio making an appearance at some stage.

In front of that trio, Carlos Tevez should feature behind Fernando Llorente and could be joined by Sebastian Giovinco or new man Roberto Pereyra. Great things are expected from the former Udinese star, and calcio fans will be watching closely to see if-and how quickly-he can make the step up to Juve's level.

Marchisio could also make an appearance supporting the striker.

Predicted Juventus XI: Buffon; Lichtsteiner, Bonucci, Ogbonna, Evra; Pirlo, Pogba, Marchisio; Tevez, Pereyra, Llorente.

Colin O'Brien lives and works in Rome, covering Italian football. You can contact him on Twitter. Follow @ColliOBrien

Darts: Phil Taylor stunned by Dave Chisnall in Singapore

PHIL Taylor has been stunned with a knock-out blow from Dave Chisnall on the opening day of the Singapore Darts Masters.

The Power was swept aside 10-6 despite having arrived in Asia in super form, having claimed a record seventh successive World Matchplay title last month.

He paid the price for missed doubles to leave Chisnall joining Michael van Gerwen, James Wade and Simon Whitlock in the semi-finals.

Chisnall led 2-0 and 4-2 early on, before Taylor capitalised on a string of misses from the world number eight to cut the gap to just 4-3.

The roles were reversed, though, in the next two legs as Chisnall finished 82 and 76 on tops to take advantage of misses from Taylor. Chisnall then went and won the next three legs to move 9-3 up.

Taylor, staring defeat in the face, hit back with legs of 14, 13 and 14 darts to reduce the gap to 9-6 and threaten a fightback as Chisnall began to wobble.

The Burslem powerhouse also landed a 180, his fourth, in the game's 16th leg, but missed two further darts at doubles to allow Chisnall to take out 112 and complete a memorable win.

'I'm delighted, over the moon,' said Chisnall. 'I started quite well; my scoring was good at the beginning and I was hitting my finishes well.

'My finishing was my strong point but I scored quite well and that gave me the chances. When I went 9-3 up I just froze and thought 'I'm going to win this'.

'I had six legs to win one and so I was thinking that it didn't matter how I play, I'll win one. Phil gave me the shot at 112 at the end and I took it.'

Chisnall will now face Australian star Whitlock in the semi-finals on the competition, which is run in association with Singha Beer and Weston's Cider.

He claimed a 10-8 win when they last met in a televised event in the Dubai Darts Masters in May.

'Me and Simon always have cracking matches,' he added.

'I've just beaten one of the best players in the world so there's no reason that I can't win this now.'

The Singapore Darts Masters, in association with Singha Beer and Weston's Cider, will conclude tomorrow with the semi-finals and final at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Singapore Darts Masters

Quarter-finals: Peter Wright 4, James Wade 10; Simon Whitlock 10, Raymond van Barneveld 6; Phil Taylor 6, Dave Chisnall 10; Michael van Gerwen 10, Andy Hamilton 4.

Semi-finals (12pm UK time, Saturday): Dave Chisnall v Simon Whitlock; Michael van Gerwen v James Wade

Semi-finals and the final are the best of 19 legs.

Singapore National Stadium not for Bruno Mars or Shakira: football coach Stange

Bernd Stange with Hassan Sunny (Photo by Liew Tong Leng for Yahoo)

By Teng Kiat

Singapore's new National Stadium at the Sports Hub may be capable of hosting many different events, but national football coach Bernd Stange only has one aim: to bring the famous Kallang Roar back to the terraces.

The German will take charge of a Singapore Selection side that will face Italian giants Juventus this Saturday in the first football match to be played at the venue. Speaking at the pre-match press conference on Thursday evening, Stange noted that while the process of improving Singapore football will 'take some time', he hopes they can start churning out good displays to get the crowds flocking back - starting against the Serie A champions.

'We are very proud to have a new stadium and we need top-class performances to bring this stadium to life,' he asserted.

'It's not a stadium for Bruno Mars or Shakira; we need the Kallang Roar back.'

Eighteen Singaporean players - 12 of whom are 24 or below - have been included in the 21-man squad and Stange believes they will form the basis of the 'future of Singapore football'.

'I see this match as part of our preparations for the highlights we have this year: the Asian Games in Korea and even the Suzuki Cup,' he stated.

'And If you follow the age of our players, you will find out that it's a team of the future, the team for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers, for the Asian Cup.'

Lions midfielder Hariss Harun will be one of those expected to lead a youthful national team in future and he cannot wait to learn from one of the best club sides in the world.

'I'm really excited and it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,' the Selection vice-captain said. 'We don't really play teams of this caliber very often [and] it's a good opportunity to make the most of it.'

Goalkeeper Hassan Sunny said it would 'not be easy' coming up against dead-ball master Andrea Pirlo and his fearsome free-kicks, but was looking forward to facing another Italian legend.

'It's a big honour to play against World Cup stars, especially [Gianluigi] Buffon, whom I look up to,' the Warriors star said. 'I hope we can enjoy the game and learn as much as we can.'

With big-name stars like Pirlo, Arturo Vidal, Paul Pogba, Carlos Tevez and Buffon in tow, the Bianconeri will be expected to provide a stern test to the Selection side on the last stop of an Asia-Pacific tour that has seen them play in Australia and Indonesia.

New coach Massimiliano Allegri is looking forward to giving all members of his squad their fair share of playing time in a 'beautiful' stadium, before they head home to begin their title defence.

'The stadium is super-modern with fantastic facilities,' he praised. 'This game is an important test for our preparations. All matches are different and need to be faced in the right way.'

The former AC Milan boss was flanked by captain Buffon and striker Fernando Llorente, who both acknowledged that it will not be easy to win a fourth consecutive Scudetto.

' Last year was an amazing season and maybe unrepeatable,' Buffon said. 'Roma and Napoli are both getting stronger and have more ambition, they will definitely be stronger this year and may be possible winners.'

' We need to continue working as we have done so far... but the team has been bolstered by the arrival of quality players and we could become even stronger,' Llorente added.

It appears that they can at least count on the services on combative midfielder Vidal, who has become an influential figure since his arrival from Bayer Leverkusen in 2011. The Chilean has been persistently linked with a move away from Turin in the current transfer window, notably to Manchester United, but Allegri is confident he will stay.

'Arturo Vidal is now training with the team,' Allegri stated simply. 'He's going to stay at Juventus.'

Rousing welcome for Juventus in Singapore

POSTED: 14 Aug 2014 22:00 UPDATED: 14 Aug 2014 23:54 Close to 150 fans greeted the Serie A champions at Changi Airport. Arturo Vidal, who is linked to Manchester United, is in Singapore as well, ahead of Juventus' clash with a Singapore selection side on Saturday (Aug 16).

Juventus fans at Changi Airport (Photo: Colin Ng)

SINGAPORE: Italian Serie A champions Juventus arrived in Singapore on Thursday (Aug 14). The 28-man squad was greeted by close to 150 fans at Singapore's Changi Airport, many of them singing and chanting.

Giorgio Chiellini, who was famously bitten by Luis Suarez during the World Cup, is celebrating his birthday on Thursday and he waved to acknowledge a birthday cake carried by fans. Also present was Arturo Vidal who has been linked to Manchester United.

Juventus will play a Singapore selection side at the new National Stadium on Saturday (Aug 16) with the early kick-off time of 6pm. Fans will be able to catch some of the world's biggest stars including Gianluigi Buffon, Paul Pogba and Andrea Pirlo in action. This is the third and final leg of Juve's Asia-Pacific tour. The Turin club has been undefeated on tour, having beaten Indonesia All-Star team 8-1 and narrowly seeing off an Australian A-League All-Stars' side 3-2.

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Navy wraps up CARAT exercise in Singapore

Navy crews have been picking up valuable lessons from their Singapore counterparts on how to maneuver in the sea version of heavy traffic - a mix of civilian and military vessels, sometimes spiced up with pirates.

Singapore's sailors spend much of their time in the Strait of Malacca, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. It is constantly transited by countless vessels carrying oil and other cargo between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.

That knowledge and experience has been passed on this month to Navy servicemembers deployed to Singapore for the annual Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training exercise.

'There is a page in their playbook that we need to be stealing,' Navy Capt. Fred Kacher said Monday, shortly after returning from a cruise on the RSS Formidable, a Singaporean navy frigate.

Kacher, the Destroyer Squadron 7 commodore, led a 1,000-strong U.S. force, two destroyers, a nuclear submarine, a fuel ship and a P-8 Poseidon aircraft during the exercise. He said there was a lot to learn from watching the Singaporeans navigate the busy shipping lanes.

Ian Chong, an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the National University of Singapore, said the operational environment around Singapore is different to that in most other parts of the world.

'Naval vessels need to be concerned with heavy civilian traffic,' he said.

Piracy is also an issue, and military personnel must be ready to support law enforcement and other agencies in an emergency. That requires cooperation across national boundaries, which makes planning and coordination more complex, Chong added.

The heavy ship traffic presents 'a challenging acoustic environment' for sonar operators, and weather can also disrupt operations in the Strait of Malacca, said Lt. Lauryn Dempsey, Destroyer Squadron 7 spokeswoman.

During gunnery exercises with the Americans, the Singaporeans used their local knowledge to maneuver and avoid bad weather and civilian shipping, she added.

The U.S. has been conducting CARAT exercises in Singapore for 20 years. Singapore is also home to Task Force 73 and Command Logistics Group Western Pacific - logistics organizations that arm, fuel, feed and support the 7th Fleet's operations in the region.

American engagement there is expanding.

The USS Freedom - one of several new fast, shallow-water vessels known as littoral combat ships - recently completed an eight-month deployment to Singapore. It will be replaced by another LCS, the USS Fort Worth, later this year, according to the Navy.

The U.S. and Singapore have agreed to deploy up to four littoral combat ships to Singapore for a year or more at a time with San Diego-based crews changing out every four months, Kacher said.

Singapore is the base for other CARAT exercises in nine South East Asian nations, along with a similar engagement in Vietnam, he said.

During the at-sea portion of the exercise, U.S. and Singaporean vessels practiced surface engagements, air defense and submarine operations, Kacher said.

'Rather than focus on who a potential adversary might be, it is better to focus on how our navies work together at sea,' he said.

Singapore is close to several potential flash points in the South China Sea, where numerous small islands and the resource-rich waters around them are subject to competing claims from China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.

Singapore isn't among the claimants, but freedom of navigation, maritime safety and overflights are extremely important for the country, Chong said.

'Any act by claimants that might endanger those things would be of serious concern to Singapore,' he said.

The Singapore government's strategy in allowing U.S. forces to operate from its territory is to foster greater engagement in the region with a major power. The goal is to give powerful nations a stake in the region's stability and a stake in Singapore's stability, he said.

The advantage for the U.S. in having a logistics hub there is that it can resupply ships headed to the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, Chong said.

'If Singapore is seen to be an important jumping off point for U.S. deployments, the U.S. might want to keep that,' he said.

robson.seth@stripes.com

False alarm: Nigerian woman sent to Singapore hospital did not have Ebola

SINGAPORE: Fears of the first case of Ebola surfacing in Singapore on Thursday (Aug 14) proved unfounded.

The Health Ministry issued the following statement: 'The Ministry of Health (MOH) wishes to clarify that there is no suspect case of Ebola in Singapore at present. The case in question was indeed referred to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, but she does not fit the case definition. MOH will continue to closely monitor the situation, and continually assess and calibrate its measures.'

The scare began when a Nigerian woman was apparently transferred from Gleneagles Hospital to Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH)'s Communicable Diseases Centre on Thursday, suffering from a high fever.

At 3.45pm, the Straits Times sent a tweet saying that Singapore 'may have its first suspected case of Ebola'. The tweet linked to a story which said that the woman, in her 50s, 'was identified as a possible Ebola case by doctors at Gleneages on Thursday morning'.

However, at 4.27pm, the Straits Times sent another tweet citing TTSH as saying that she 'does not have Ebola as first feared'. The newspaper's original tweet and story have since been deleted.

TTSH Chief Executive Officer Philip Choo was quoted by the Straits Times as saying: 'We saw a patient with a history from Nigeria, (but her detailed history revealed) no contact with any suspect or confirmed patients.'

The patient has already been discharged, he added.

The death toll in the worst epidemic of Ebola since its discovery four decades ago climbed to 1,069 on Wednesday, according to the World Health Organisation. Nearly 2,000 have now been infected.

Abbott stops over in Singapore

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has made a brief stopover in Singapore on his way back from London.

It is understood a meeting is being arranged with Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, who this week marks 10 years in office.

Mr Abbott has invited Mr Lee to attend the G20 leaders summit in Brisbane as a guest.

The prime minister is expected back in Canberra on Thursday night.