"We cannot let the National Stadium become their home ground!" Fandi Ahmad tells fans

"We cannot let the National Stadium become their home ground!" says Head Coach of the Singapore Selection team Fandi Ahmad in urging the republic football fans to roar the stadium on Saturday.

"I hope the fans will come and show their support for the players and the Singapore Selection, especially since we have heard that Selangor will be bringing in thousands of fans to support their side," he said.

The Singapore Selection will play in the main Sultan of Selangor Cup (TSSC) match against the Selangor PKNS football club that has been chosen to represent the state.

As at end of last month, it was made to understand that close to 16,000 tickets have been sold, 9,000 away from the organisers'' target of 25,000 fans and on top of that 10,000 of the tickets sold so far were bought by Selangor fans, thus capable of creating the jitters for the Singapore selection side.

"It will be an exciting match to watch," Fandi said in a statement posted on the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) website recently.

The Lions seem to need that "Kallang Roar" so badly as a boost in defending the Cup after winning over Selangor 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at the Shah Alam Stadium, last year.

According to Fandi who has his son, Irfan in the squad list too, his team has a good mix of young and experienced players, with some quality foreign players from the Super League as well.

For this 16th edition, Selangor had let TSSC to be hosted by Singapore for the first time since 2009, and at the Singapore Sports Hub for the very first time.

The traditional curtain-raiser match between the Singapore Veterans and Selangor Veterans will take place before the main match.

Malek Awab, Shahri Rahim, Samad Allapitchay, E.Manimohan, Steven Tan and Razali Saad are among the Singapore Veterans that will make a "come back" tomorrow.

A ''Singapore-Selangor Schools Challenge Cup'' match will also be held for the first time this year, where the Singapore Sports School''s Under-16 side will play against the Selangor Combined Schools team before the Veterans match.

Tracing back the history of TSSC, Singapore Sports Hub in its website said the days when Selangor and Singapore would meet each other in the Malaysia Cup may be over, but it is definitely not forgotten.

In total, Selangor and Singapore contested 17 Malaya Cup finals and 6 Malaysia cup finals, and the rivalry created during these passion-filled encounters had left a truly unforgettable memory for all fans.

In the absence of Singapore from the M-league in 1995, it left a vacuum in the League, much to the disappointment of the fans.

This was when Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, the Sultan of Selangor, then the Regent of Selangor, inaugurated the Regent of Selangor''s Cup in 2001 to have these two giants of Regional football continue their great rivalry, it said. - BERNAMA