The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) Acting President Bernard Tan has said that it will be a “great achievement for us” if Singapore’s Young Lions make the semi-finals of the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia.
The SEA Games will be held in Cambodia from 5 to 17 May.
Singapore’s footballers have not earned a medal since the 2013 SEA Games, and have not made it past the group stage since 2015 in four consecutive biennial competitions.
Said Tan in an interview with the Straits Times, “My target is to play like what we expect of a Singapore team – to go into every game, give everything, be organised and structured, and the result will take care of itself.
“Reaching the semi-finals will be a great achievement for us.”
Tan also touched in the Lions exit at the Group Stage at the recent ASEAN Football Federation Mitsubishi Electric Cup.
He implied that the Lions side which lost to Malaysia in the final match at Bukit Jalil did not show enough heart on the pitch.
He said, “In the short term, can we do better?
“The answer is yes. At the last AFF Championship, we held the strongest team in Asean and had it in our hands to beat the odds and make the semi-finals, but lost it in the last match.
“Most Singaporeans can accept us losing to a better team, but they want to see fight, they want to see heart.
“And we did not show this against Malaysia. I’m disappointed, the team are disappointed, and we have to ask ourselves why was this the case?”
He added that he has a “minimum standard for the national team.”
“A Singapore team must have a game plan and be organised,” he is quoted.
“The players who wear the national jersey must demonstrate the desire to fight for our country, leave everything on the field like they did against Indonesia in 2021.
“I want better teams to hate to play against Singapore.”
Singapore is currently ranked seventh in ASEAN and find itself in the mix among the minnows like Cambodia, Timor Leste and Brunei.
MAIN PHOTO: YOUTUBE