Singapore U-23 to field reserved goalkeeper against Thailand - Balagumaran

The Singapore Under-23 (U-23) squad will play against Thailand U-23 in the second match of the 2013 Merdeka Cup football tournament, tomorrow without their main goalkeeper.

Singapore assistant coach, K. Balagumaran said Muhammad Syazwan Buhari, 23, who displayed a brilliant performance against the Malaysian U-23 side had to return to the island republic for the national service program.

"We had no choice but to bring in our third goalkeeper (Neezam Abdul Aziz) to protect our goal mouth for the match against Thailand," he told reporters, here today.

Touching on Thailand's strength, Balagumaran said the team dubbed 'The War Elephants of Thailand' was technically a very strong side whether playing in the junior or senior level football tournament.

"They have always been a good team when playing in any tournament...So it will be a tough task for us to beat them but it's not impossible for us to snatch three points if we manage to penetrate their strong backline," he said.

Meanwhile, Thailand's U-23 Head Coach, Kairung Threejagsang had singled out Singapore's U-23 midfielder, Muhammad Zulfahmi Mohd Ariffin as a possible toast for his side due to his good football skills.

"He played quite well against the Malaysian U-23 yesterday and we have to be wary of the threat he could pose to our team," he said.

Thailand's U-23 shared the spoils in the opening match of the tournament after being held to a 1-1 draw against the Myanmar U-23 while Singapore U-23 side, under tutelage of Lions XII's coach V. Sundramoorthy, lost 0-1 to the Malaysian U-23.

Both matches were played at the Darul Makmur Stadium, here, yesterday.