The strength of young Singaporean players is that they are highly self-disciplined and in high spirits during training sessions and in competitions

A close second to young Thai footballers, the Singaporeans are considered the Vietnamese youths’ arch rivals.

One of the stimulants for the growth of Singaporean football has been the policies pursued by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS).

It set up a team called the Young Lions in 2002, creating opportunities for the team to play in the S-League every year, and this has improved national football standards.

Terry Pathmanathan, manager and coach of U21 Singaporean team, said: “Since the 21st SEA Games in Malaysia in 2001 when the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) decided the tournament will be an arena for the under 23 teams, Singapore established the Young Lions teams with all players under 23.”

“The goal is to prepare for SEA Games competitions as well as to produce a generation of players to replace veterans in the national team.”

The job of Young Lions’ managers is to select young players with a great interest in the sport from schools across the country and turn them into professional athletes.

The entrants to the team are 16 years old and they will train for between five and seven years with expert guidance and assistance from former players and specialists from Europe.

When they are between 21 and 23, the “young cubs” are either selected to play for Young Lions or moved to other strong S-League teams.

The Young Lions teams attract a lot of young talent. Even other S-League clubs send their young players to Young Lions for intensive training.

FAS has also built an artificial-grass football field called Jalan Besar and let the Young Lions manage it.

That environment has produced a lot of good players who played for the

U23 Singaporean squad in the SEA Games 2007 that defeated Vietnam and were almost on equal terms with hosts Thailand.

In 2003, the Young Lions were in the 12th position out of 12 clubs in its first year in the S-League. The next year, it was in third place and has remained between third and seventh positions for the past five seasons.

Last year, the Young Lions advanced to the National Cup semis. In this S-League season, they have played exceptional, recording a 3-2 win over Sengkang, a 2-0 victory over Balestier, a 1-0 win over Home United and two 1-1 draws with Woodlands and Brunei DPMM. They only lost one match 1-2 to S-League champs SAAFC.

Striking a balance

While the Singaporean national team is a cosmopolitan squad with many foreign players turned Singaporeans, the Young Lions limits the number of foreign players.

Foreign players for the Singapore national team hail from different countries including Serbia, Cameroon, China and Britain, like Aleksandar Duric, Shi Jiayi, Agu Casmir, Mustafic Farudin, John Wilkinson, and Daniel Bennett.

About the Young Lions, Terry Pathmanathan recently said, “Singapore wants to attract players of Singaporean descent or from families who have lived and worked in the country because we want to improve national football.

“Our work has brought good results with the AFF Cup championships in 2004 and 2007. Now we aim to reach the top level in Asian football. That’s why we have been focusing on the young generation.”

Terry Pathmanathan said it would be very hard to improve national football if it selected only Singaporean natives who are born and brought up in the island country because Thailand and Vietnam are powerhouses in the region.

But it would also not be a ‘very Singaporean’ team if there were too many foreign players in the youth national team, he added.

Therefore, FAS always considers ways to balance achievements while encouraging young native Singaporean talents to improve. Accordingly it allows Young Lions to employ some foreign players in its S-League squad to motivate native talents.

Currently, Nigerian Obadin Aikhena and Yang Mu from China are playing superb football for the Young Lions.

FAS also selects some young players from Young Lions to play in the national squad to help them gain experience and prepare for the replacement process.

Some of these select players include goalkeeper Hyrulnizam Juma’at, defender Afiq Yunos and midfielder Haris Harun. They were among the 22 players who played in the AFF Cup 2008 and the Asian Cup 2011 qualifying rounds.

Also, Young Lions cooperates with schools to train children with talent and interest in the sport to form the U16 and U19 teams to play in regional competitions with training provided by experts.

The U21 Singaporean team that competed in the Thanh Niensponsored U21 International Football Tournament in Khanh Hoa in 2007 and in Hue city in 2008, for example, were mostly talented schoolboys chosen by Young Lions and coached by professional tacticians including Briton Hamilton Keith.

The team won third place at the Thanh Nien-sponsored U21 International Football Tournament in Khanh Hoa in 2007.

Former Singaporean player Fandi Ahmad said at the AFF Cup 2008 that, compared with the generation in the 1990s like Nazri Nasir, Rafi Ali, Zulkanael and Ahmad Latiff, the young Singaporean players are now given better opportunities. Yet they need to train harder and should always want to improve. Only then can they ensure a better future for Singaporean football, he said.

Reported by Quang Tuyen