FAS to announce Sundram as new national coach on Friday

SINGAPORE - The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) will officially present V Sundramoorthy as the new Singapore national coach on Friday (May 27), after the job was left vacant for almost two months after German Bernd Stange left his post in April.

As first reported by TODAY in March, the FAS will call for a media conference to announce its decision, with Sundram putting pen to paper on a one-year deal.

The Tampines Rovers head coach had just led the Stags to the quarter-finals of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup, after the Stags beat Indian side Mohun Bagan 2-1 on Tuesday night. It is his final match with the Stags.

Although he remained coy on his new Lions job, Sundram believes Tampines made a big statement for Singapore football and can go all the way in the AFC Cup.

“The desire and hunger that the players showed last night makes the victory a really good statement for Singapore football,” said the 50-year-old.

“Being in the quarter-finals (which is a two-legged affair) means that anything is possible and Tampines have a great chance to go further in this competition.”

Key to Tampines’ victory, according to the out-going coach, is the blistering form of star winger Jermaine Pennant.

The former Arsenal and Liverpool winger, who joined the Stags in January on a one-year-deal, was causing havoc in the opposition defence with his incisive passes and tricky sprints down the wings.

The 33-year-old capped off a man-of-the-match performance with the crucial pass in extra time for defender Afiq Yunos’ winner in the 117th minute. It was the Englishman’s fourth assist in six AFC Cup matches.

“He (Pennant) was excellent and I believe his influence during the match was exceptional,” Sundram told TODAY.

“I believe that Jermaine lifted his game and in a way he influenced his other team-mates to follow suit and perform at a high level. This was his best performance so far since joining Tampines.”

Tampines played with 10 men for more than an hour after defender Shakir Hamzah was shown a second yellow card in the 54th minute. Sundram was full of praise for his side’s performance and the fighting spirit they showed despite being a man down.

“Everyone gave a good account of themselves and you can see they badly wanted to qualify for the quarter-finals,” he said. “I told the boys before the start of extra time that I expected Mohun Bagan to struggle physically because they played on Saturday while we had a one-week break.

“Tactically we exploited them brilliantly while staying focused at the same time.” AMANPREET SINGH