‘Back to basics’ at Lion City Cup

SINGAPORE — The Republic’s footballers have come under scrutiny in recent months, particularly after the national under-23 team’s dismal campaign at the recent SEA Games, which saw their gold-medal dream dashed after a premature exit at the group stage.

Coaches, ex-national players, fans and experts — including Football Association of Singapore (FAS) technical director Michel Sablon — had identified youth development as a crucial area to work on, with many pointing to the shortage of talent coming through the ranks.

While Singapore football’s development pipeline is still a work in progress, getting young players high-quality tournaments to compete in and test themselves will also be key. And the National Football Academy’s under-15 and under-16 teams will get the opportunity to pit themselves against some of the best in Europe at the 26th Lion City Cup held at Jalan Besar Stadium this Friday and Sunday.

Back after a one-year hiatus, the four-team tournament will pit the two local teams against the under-15 teams of Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool. Founded in 1977 by the late former FAS chairman, N Ganesan, the Lion City Cup is recognised for unearthing some of Singapore’s top footballing talents, including Fandi Ahmad, V Sundramoorthy and Shahril Ishak.

But the focus this year is on performance, rather than results. V Selvaraj and Robin Chitrakar, head coaches of the Singapore under-15s and under-16s, respectively, yesterday said they would adopt a “back to basics” approach to this year’s tournament. This will include working on the techniques, such as trapping of the ball and maintaining the pass-and-move style of play during match play.

“Performance is the key. We’ve been working very hard in training and have set out some objectives for the Lion City Cup,” said Selvaraj in an interview at the Singapore Sports School.

“I want the players to apply what they have learnt in training during the match and show a serious attitude to the tournament.”

The focus on improving technique is in line with the philosophy outlined by Sablon in his vision to improve the state of football here. The 67-year-old, who joined the FAS in April, is widely credited for overhauling the structure of Belgian football in his previous job at the country’s football federation.

Added Chitrakar: “We are definitely considered the underdogs when we play against teams like Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur. But what we want to see is our boys trying to play the correct way against the top opposition from Europe. So it’s a good platform for us to test ourselves, and it is important that we must not be afraid to play against these teams.”

This year’s Lion City Cup will also serve as a final warm-up session for the Singapore under-15s, ahead of their participation in the Asian Football Confederation U-16 Championship qualifiers, which begins at the end of this month with hosts Singapore competing against Thailand on Sept 2, before taking on North Korea and Cambodia.

Retaining local talent will also be key for the sport’s development. Selvaraj cited “studies, National Service and family issues” as the challenges facing some young footballers today. “If you don’t have the correct commitment, discipline and focus, it will be very difficult to succeed,” said the former national player.

“Keeping this bunch of boys in the system and having them play football based on the philosophy that we have, I’m sure they can definitely grow and be nurtured into a good team that can represent Singapore at the SEA Games when they turn 21.”

Liverpool and Spurs will be hot favourites to make the Cup final this weekend, but Singapore U-16 striker Ikhsan Fandi, the son of national footballing icon Fandi Ahmad, is hopeful of causing an upset.

“Players from England are usually big and strong, so we have to play faster and be stronger mentally and physically,” said Ikhsan, 16, who trains with Chilean club, Universidad de Catolica. “Having trained in Chile, I know a bit more of the style that these European teams play, so I’ll be better prepared for what to expect. If we play well and manage to score, we may be able to even win this tournament.”

*Get your tickets to the Lion City Cup at www.globaltickets.sg/lioncitycup