One last hurdle stands between Singapore and a place in the ASEAN Championship knockout stage: six-time runners-up Indonesia. A draw will be enough for the Lions to qualify at the Garudas’ expense, while a defeat would see Singapore eliminated, unless Vietnam suffer the highly unlikely setback of losing to Cambodia by a large margin.
The last meeting between the two sides produced one of the most memorable matches in tournament history, as Indonesia overcame an eight-man Singapore side 4-2 after extra time in the second leg of the 2021 semi-finals to secure a 5-3 aggregate triumph.
Both squads have undergone major overhauls since then, with significant changes in both the dugout and on the pitch.
Yet the hunger to come out on top against one another remains undiminished.
“Tomorrow will be a difficult game as we expect. But we’re playing at home in front of a big crowd, a full house. I think we’re all just very excited internally. We just got to manage that with a little bit of calmness so that we go out there and play our football,” Lions head coach Gavin Lee said ahead of Friday’s (Aug 7) clash.
“It will be nice to be back in Singapore on its birthday, on the ninth of August. Of course, we’re here to do a job, put in a good performance and try to qualify for the semi-finals. But it would also be nice to give Singaporeans a great birthday present,” said Ilhan Fandi, Singapore’s joint-top scorer at this tournament with two goals so far.
The Lions will also take to the Jalan Besar Stadium pitch in their new adidas home kit, which was unveiled on Sunday (Aug 2).
The launch saw fans form snaking queues to get their hands on the new jersey, which might provide the hosts extra motivation to deliver a memorable performance.
“It’s shown us that there are actually a lot of people who care about the national team. We heard there were thousands of people queuing up for the new kit, and that’s a great indication of the progress this group of boys has made,” said Lee.
Off the back of a commendable 0-0 draw against defending champions Vietnam in Hanoi’s My Dinh National Stadium, Lee’s squad has shown signs of maturity and defensive solidity.
“I think what Vietnam showed us is that we are ready for difficult moments. The training camp (in Okinawa) really prepared us for that. What’s important is the growth from game to game, and that growth comes through stability within the team… and that is something we have to build on tomorrow night,” he added.
Hoping to spoil the party will be an Indonesia side still smarting from a 3-0 home defeat to Vietnam at the Pakansari Stadium in Bogor on Monday (Aug 3).
The humbling has spurred Englishman John Herdman, who took charge of Indonesia in January, to rally his side ahead of the must-win clash.
“This is a wounded and hungry Indonesian team that isn’t gonna mess around tomorrow,” said the former Canada boss.
“From what I’ve seen, Singapore are a positive team. They’re very proactive. I’ve enjoyed doing some of the scouting, and I think there are some good parts to their game in possession. I’m looking forward to it. These are two teams that want to play football. Gavin has done a good job getting them playing good football. They have a lot of third-man patterns, which are nice to watch at times. The fans should be proud of what their team does,” he added.
With the regional tournament not part of the official FIFA calendar, clubs are not obliged to release their players, leaving Herdman without several of his Europe-based stars.
His selection woes were further compounded by the absence of dynamic midfielder Marselino Ferdinan, who was ruled out with an injury two days ago, and Dutch-born defender Justin Hubner, whose club Fortuna Sittard refused to release him for the tournament.
But Herdman is making no excuses, with his sights set on the trophy and a longer-term ambition of guiding Indonesia to the 2030 World Cup — a feat he achieved with Canada, leading them to their first FIFA World Cup appearance in 36 years.
“We come to play football. We come to dominate the ball. We come to draw teams into playing in their half.”
“To lift this first trophy for a country… that passion is what we get out of bed for as humans. To be pioneers, that has been part of our rhetoric as a group since we came together. We know what we’re here for,” Herdman added.
Acknowledging the huge miss of Marselino, Persib Bandung midfielder Marc Klok said: “We started the tournament with really high confidence. We went into the Vietnam game with really high confidence, and then you get a knock. You just have to stand up, go again, and we are really confident once more. We know we need a win.”
