football-singapore-vs-malaysia

Shi Jiayi (Singapore #7) and Daniel Bennett (Singapore #16), both naturalised citizens on the Singapore team. (Photo 1 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

In the wake of Singapore’s 6-4 aggregate win over Malaysia in the second round of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, the Malaysian media and football fans are asking if Singapore could have won without our naturalised players.

There were five naturalised citizens in the Singapore lineup last night against Malaysia in a game that ended 1-1. Singapore won the first leg 5-3.

Singapore’s Shi Jiayi and Qiu Li were born in China with Jiayi making his debut in October 2005 while Qiu Li made his in May 2008.

Defender Daniel Bennett, who was born in England, grew up in Singapore from the age of two and made his debut in December 2002.

Serbian-born Midfielder Mustafic Fahrudin made his debut for Singapore in January 2006 while fellow Serbian, Aleksandar Duric, made his in November 2007.

Duric who was not part of the FAS’ (Football Association of Singapore) foreign talent policy, made two personal applications for Singapore citizenship and was rejected twice. He only got his papers on his third time of asking and he eventually debuted for Singapore at the right old age of 37.

After Singapore had beaten Malaysia 5-3 in the first leg, Malaysian captain Safiq Rahim was quoted as saying in the Malaysian newspaper, The New Straits Times: “I think they are very reliant on their naturalised players. Singapore are not much of a team without them. These players are only good at their small stadium.

“They will not be able to play their game in front of our fans at the National Stadium. We will beat them,” added Safiq, who was red-carded in the first leg.

As it turned out, Safiq had to eat his words as his teammates could only manage a 1-1 draw in the second leg.

After the second leg, Singapore coach Raddy Avramovic was asked whether Singapore would have beaten Malaysia without their foreign players at the post-match press conference.

“You cannot compare Singapore with Malaysia as we do not have a huge base to choose from. We also do not have many teams in our league. What is wrong selecting naturalised players to play for Singapore? If they can improve our football then why not,” Avramovic was quoted as saying by The New Straits Times.

football-singapore-vs-malaysia

Serbian-born Mustafic Fahrudin (Singapore #15) and fellow Serbian Aleksandar Duric (Singapore #9) made their debut for Singapore in 2006 and 2007 respectively. (Photo 2 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

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