After a winless campaign for the Young Lions and the Lionesses at the Dec 9-20 SEA Games in Thailand, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) has pledged more “transparency” to the public and “regular international exposure” for the teams.
At a post-Games review on Friday (Dec 26), Singapore Under-22 head coach Firdaus Kassim, FAS vice-president Tan Li Yu, council member Yeong Sheau Shyan, and general secretary Badri Ghent outlined plans moving forward following disappointing group-stage exits by both sides.
Speaking at the press conference held at the Jalan Besar Stadium, Badri assured that the public could expect “greater transparency” from the current administration, adding that FAS would continue to “share its assessments and findings in a more transparent and productive manner”.
Still smarting from defeats by Timor-Leste (3-1) and eventual finalists Thailand (3-0), Firdaus did not shy away from responsibility.
“This has been a very underwhelming SEA Games campaign,” he said. “We will not run from that fact. I take full responsibility and ownership of what was a poor and disappointing campaign.”
Tan added that the Association “holds their hand up high” in the face of the results, with the women’s team also falling 3-1 to Indonesia and 2-0 to Thailand, but insisted that “it (isn’t) all doom and gloom”.
Offering deeper insight into the selection process and the available talent pool, Firdaus explained that his men’s squad had the lowest number of Under-23 and ‘A’ international caps among the competing teams.
“This is not a matter of fitness but a matter of experience,” Firdaus said.
The squad combined for just 124 total caps, including only two at senior level. By comparison, Myanmar were next lowest with 190 caps, while eventual champions Vietnam topped the list with 329.
“We were quite surprised that there was not a single international game arranged for the under-22 team, since the last SEA Games, and hence one of the first things we looked at was to come up with a six-month preparation program,” Tan said of the Council’s efforts since taking over.
“Having gone through this six-month journey preparing the team, I think we can say that we really put in a lot of effort and poured resources to ensure that the team was as well prepared as possible.”
But despite training camps in Thailand, Portugal and Dubai leading up to the Games, the squad, with an average age of just 19.78 – the lowest since records began in 2007 – were unable to put up a sustained resistance against more experienced sides in Timor Leste (332 caps), Thailand (302 caps).
Going forward, Tan shared that the Association will organise games for the men’s under-22 team during every international window, with “regular international exposure” for the under-19s and under-16s.
“We have a board that looks at every single milestone of our players, all the top talents coming through. And I can tell you we are very excited and we are very confident together with Unleash the Roar! program. We will deliver what we need to do, and we are committed to making sure we put in as many resources into youth development as possible.”
Addressing the women’s campaign, Yeong noted that opponents such as finalists Vietnam and regional powerhouse Thailand benefitted from established professional domestic leagues, but expressed confidence in the UTR talents, with the first batch set to return to Singapore next June.
“Our first batch will come back next June (Kyra Taylor, Natasha Naszri, Ardhra Arul Ganeswaran, Irsalina Irwan, Chloe Koh and Yasmine Zaharin). They will be valuable assets for our national team, but they are still young, around 18 years of age,” she said.
“For the women’s tournament at the SEA Games, there is no age limit. For players to come in at 18 and play — Seri (Nurinsyirah) featured in matches, Yasmine played a role, and we also had (Izairida) Shakira, who is not a scholar but is at a good level — these are players we hope to give more international exposure,” Yeong said.
She added that the women’s committee, which was formed in April, is also in the process of raising funds to roll out support schemes for the top players, with an announcement expected in due course.
