Whenever I look at a team list, be it specially assembled for a specific competition or for a centralized training camp, other than the name, age or for some instances height and weight are stated, I get particularly excited to see the clubs which the players are currently playing for. It’s always interesting to see players from all over the world’s established leagues gather together and I could imagine how they would be sharing their individual interesting stories about their respective league which they are playing in.
Recently, Singapore’s newly appointed head coach, Bernd Stange announced his first ever National Team squad for the upcoming friendlies in June. As usual, I ran through the list starting from the club listing first. Somehow I felt kind of heart-warming to spot this foreign club, FC Metz, beside the name of an 17yrs old Adam Swandi. Yes, European league-based Adam Swandi has finally been called up to the senior team.
Although I feel that Adam’s called up could have been much earlier, this couldn’t have seems to be a bad timing to be called up too. With a newly appointed head coach, who is supposed to be the right man to lift Singapore football up to another higher level, certain unusual or surprising decisions are expected from him to be honest. That is what football hype is all about!
The German coach has given players like Adam Swandi (FC Metz), Hafiz Nor (Tanjong Pagar Utd), Faris Ramli & Gabriel Quek (both from Lions XII) their first ever called up. To inject some experience into the team, Noh Rahman & already retired Indra Sahdan (both from Home Utd) were recalled back to form the core of the team. Of course the selection of the team came with surprises too. Midfield maestro, Mustafic Faharudin and Shi Jiayi were not picked.
Just like a elementry school kid gearing up new stationary and uniform for a new school term, I am feeling extremely fresh and excited with the new selected squad. I believe it’s the same for coach Bernd Stange, he should be looking forward to a brand new football season although we are already at the middle of a year now. And if the selection of the squad is any indication of how coach Bernd Stange wants Singapore football to move towards, we could be looking at some fast attacking strategy making use of the wingers! What do you expect from Faris Ramli, Gabriel Quek, Adam Swandi, Shahril Ishak, Shaiful Eash, Khairul Amri and Hafiz Nor? And hopefully in no time, more European clubs could be spotted on our Singapore National Team’s name list!
Singapore National Team
GK – Izwan Mahbud (Lions XII) & Hassan Sunny (Warriors)
DF – Faritz Hameed, Shakir Hamzah, Safuwan Baharudin, Baihakki Khaizan (all Lions XII), Afiq Yunos (Courts Young Lions), Noh Rahman (Home Utd), Shaiful Esah (Tampines Rovers), Rosman Sulaiman & Shariff Samat (both Woodlands Wellington)
MF – Faris Ramli, Gabriel Quak, Shahril Ishak, Hariss Harun, Isa Halim (all Lions XII), Adam Swandi (FC Metz), Hafiz Nor (Tanjong Pagar Utd) & Shahdan Sulaiman (Tampines Rovers)
FW – Qiu Li (Balestier Khalsa), Indra Sahdan (Home Utd), Khairul Amri (Tampines Rovers) & Sufian Anuar (Warriors)
Photo: FAS FB
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