Contributed by Eric Ong
How Singapore will fare at the SEA Games will depend on talented footballers like Hariss Harun (left). Hariss is one of five players in the existing squad who returned from the 2007 SEA Games with a bronze medal. Singapore have never won the SEA Games football gold. (Photo © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports file photo)
Saturday, November 28, 2009 – Singapore U-23 coach T Pathmanathan will take Singapore’s youngest ever football squad to the biennial South-East Asian Games when they depart for Vientiane, Laos on Monday 30 November.
With an average age of 19.8 years, the squad is Singapore football’s youngest representatives at the SEA Games since the football competition became an U-23 event in 2001.
The football competition of the 25th SEA Games kicks off on 2 December with the Group A fixtures.
Singapore, in Group B, will open our campaign against near neighbours Indonesia on 5 December.
They then take on 2007 silver medallists Myanmar on 7 December with the final fixture against hosts Laos on 10 December.
The top two teams from each group qualifies for the semi-finals.
The 20-strong squad features 11 teenagers who will still be eligible for the next two editions of the SEA Games in 2011 and 2013 where the football competition is restricted to U-23 level, similar to the Asian Games and Olympic Games.
Included in the squad is promising attacker Shahfiq Ghani from the National Football Academy U-17 team, the youngest player in the squad.
Only five of the 20 players – Jasper Chan, Isa Halim, Shaiful Esah, Hariss Harun and Shahdan Sulaiman – were from the 2007 squad that came back from Korat, Thailand with the bronze medal.
Pathmanathan said: “We have been giving these young boys lots of opportunities to play in the S.League to gain experience to prepare for the SEA Games. It is the first time for most of them with only five of having prior experience at the SEA Games.
“The opponents in the S.League are fitter, stronger, more physical and of a much higher standard than what they will face in the SEA Games and we wanted the boys to experience that.
“With this group of boys, we are not just looking at this SEA Games but at the next couple of Games as well as most of them will still be eligible.
“The boys have grown in confidence over the past 10 months and they are eager to show that they can compete in the international arena. The SEA Games is never easy as every team will want to win it and the boys know they will have to raise their game to compete. The team spirit in the team is very high and the boys are all eagerly looking forward to the Games and want to do Singapore proud.”
Singapore U-23 Football (SEA Games Squad)
| Jersey # | Full Name | DOB (Age) | Position | Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyrulnizam Juma'at | 14/11/1986 (23) | GK | Young Lions | |
| Jasper Chan | 7/11/1988 (21) | GK | Young Lions | |
| Afiq Yunos | 10/01/1990 (19) | DF | Young Lions | |
| Eddie Chang | 10/05/1990 (19) | DF | Young Lions | |
| Faritz Abdul Hameed | 16/01/1990 (19) | DF | Young Lions | |
| Irwan Shah | 02/11/1988 (21) | DF | Young Lions | |
| Madhu Mohana | 06/03/1991 (18) | DF | Young Lions | |
| Safuwan Baharudin | 22/09/1991 (18) | DF | Young Lions | |
| Shaiful Esah | 12/05/1986 (23) | DF | SAFFC | |
| Firdaus Idros | 12/08/1986 (23) | MF | Home United | |
| Gabriel Quak | 22/12/1990 (19) | MF | Young Lions | |
| Hariss Harun | 19/11/1990 (19) | MF | Young Lions | |
| Isa Halim | 15/05/1986 (23) | MF | Home United | |
| Raihan Abdul Rahman | 07/02/1991 (18) | MF | NFA U-18 | |
| Shahdan Sulaiman | 09/05/1988 (21) | MF | Home United | |
| Yasir Hanapi | 21/06/1989 (20) | MF | Geylang United | |
| Fadhil Noh | 04/03/1989 (20) | MF | Young Lions | |
| Fazli Ayob | 24/01/1990 (19) | FW | Young Lions | |
| Khairul Nizam | 25/06/1991 (18) | FW | NFA U-18 | |
| Shahfiq Ghani | 17/03/1992 (17) | FW | NFA U-17 |
All posts that contain vulgarities will get deleted and/or edited.
walao i hate ppl like ice. but there r many like him around us…..unfortunately
lol wth. ppl like ice can hav their post published. i scold him n my post is removed lol.
i think the rest are serving NS, thats y they go for youth
When the draw came out, I told a friend of mine that this is a good draw, and while he agree with me, he was not very confident if the boys could deliver even then.
Looking at the squad, I think the strongest department did be our midfield. Hariss Harun and Isa Halim are already full internationals, while Yasir Hanapi just had a good season with Geylang. Add Shahdan Sulaiman, Gabriel Quak and Firdaus Idros, I think there is good competition for the places in the first XI.
However, the same could not be said for other departments. Neither GK had been convincing, Shaiful Esah is probably the only one who can confirm his place in defense at LB as the rest aren’t that reliable, while the forward-line can blow hot and cold.
I would expect this team to at least qualify for the semis, since we have a psychological edge over everyone, especially Indonesia whom we defeat earlier this year at this level. However, with Myanmar being an unknown factor and Laos being strong in youth tournament and also at home, I can’t help but feel that even such modest target can be hard to achieve.
singapore must win indonesia,myanmar and laos 2-0.
Having a young squad is terrific, eye-catching and will give tremendous exposure to the boys…
But few ponder about the opportunities that the 20-23 year olds not selected have just lost. This is their last possible sea games and have been working hard to be selected. They were not given similar opportunities when they were 17-19 as such youth favorable policies were not practiced back then.
It’s sad because its as good as saying those in the 20-23 age group dont mean thing. The 17 and 18 year olds still can get experience and exposure at their u-19 or u-20 level… why thrust them to the u-23 at the expense of the boys who have waited so long to be finally in the age group to be considered for the squad ?
This practice of suddenly fielding significantly younger teams will filter down through the age groups and you will find many boys getting overlooked because they have not yet blossomed at 16 or 17. There are only a handful of ronaldo’s,rooneys and messi’s… the rest take time to develop. Case in point, mr darren fletcher.
So much more to say… but… sigh…
i thought shaiful esah is from saffc?
@realcool: Thanks for the correction.
Who cares. They’ll bomb out before the opening ceremony, as usual. Can we focus on the sports that actually win?
@ice: If you have any story about any other sport, please feel free to send it.
This story was contributed.
You send it, we post it.