Several may fancy their chances of being named in the starting XI for the bronze-medal match tonight against Malaysia, with coach Aide Iskandar open to the possibility of blooding the bench-warmers, although he insists the final line-up is still under consideration.
According to him, it was still important for the Young Lions to return home with a medal and playing Malaysia will give the players extra motivation. Only five days ago, the two sides fought out a 1-1 draw in their Group A match. And both teams will need to shrug off the disappointment of losing their semi-finals to contest for the minor prize.
Said Aide: “The players don’t want to have travelled all the way here to go home empty-handed.
“They are still feeling a bit down from losing to Thailand, but they will need to shrug that off and start feeling the hunger again for a medal.”
Ong Kim Swee’s Harimau Muda will arguably be more fatigued, as this game will be their fifth match in eight days — it showed in their lethargic loss on Thursday to Indonesia on penalties.
As Ong told TODAY: “Singapore have the advantage because we have just finished a mentally-sapping game against Indonesia that went into extra time and penalties ... It’s a question of who is hungrier for the bronze, but I will remind my team that pride is at stake.”
Apart from minor knocks, Aide should be able to field his strongest line-up against Malaysia, although striker Shahfiq Ghani’s place could be under threat. The 21-year-old has had a dismal campaign, failing to reproduce his Malaysian Super League form when he scored six goals for the LionsXII.
That could mean a second start in Myanmar for 20-year-old Iqbal Hussain, or a reshuffle in the line-up to give the Young Lions more bite up front.
While Aide conceded that Shahfiq has not shown up at this tournament, he refused to confirm the forward’s selection for the bronze-medal tie. “I don’t want to give the game away as I’m sure Ong Kim Swee would also want to win this one,” he said.
Beating Malaysia tonight will mean a repeat of the bronze-medal win from the 2009 Games. The Young Lions failed to advance from the group stage at the 2011 Games.
