LIONS AND INDONESIA GEAR UP FOR ASIAN CUP QUALIFIERS

The Lions will take on another ASEAN side Thailand (14 and 18 November) while Indonesia will be up against Kuwait in the AFC qualifiers.

Towards that, Singapore have arranged for a friendly against Indonesia on 4 November 2009 at the Singapore National Stadium and where they have called on the services of Mohd Noh Alam Shah and Muhd Ridhuan Muhammad (from Arema Malang) and also Mustafic Fahrudin and Baihakki Khaizan (Persija Jakarta).

“I am satisfied with what I’ve seen in the Indonesia Super League (with regards to the performance of the four players),“ said Singapore head coach Radojko Avramovic.

“It showed that they are serious about playing in the S-League and this is a positive progress for the national side.

“But that does not mean that they will get an automatic place in the squad. They have to show the same kind of commitment as did the others who put in a fine performance recently when they won the Ho Chi Minh City Cup.”

In the meantime Indonesia, have lined matches against Singapore and a Kuwaiti club side (on 10 November) as their preparation for the qualifiers.

The Indonesians, who drew scoreless against Oman and Australia, in their previous qualifying matches beat Indonesian club side PS TNI 4-1 in a friendly a few days ago.

“They put up a credible performance in their last match considering the transition they have to put in from the club side to the demands of international matches,“ added Indonesia head coach Benny Dolo.

“Against TNI, we experimented with the change in play from 4-2-3-1 in the first half to 3-5-2 in the second half. And it went well.

“If there are areas which we need to improve on, it is the defence. We cannot allow our opponent spaces to capitalise on. We have to work on this before taking on Kuwait.”