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A well prepared Indian side under the supervision of manager, Wim Kovermans are going to take on Singapore in a FIFA international friendly match at Chau Chau Kang stadium, Singapore today. After their major Nehru Cup triumph under the guidance of Dutchman Kovermans, the Blue Tigers this will be their first outing. The Indian side looks relatively strong & confident enough to conquer Singapore easily. Kovermans wants to continue his wining momentum of Nehru Cup and hopefully guide India higher in the FIFA ranking.
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Several times in the near past we witnessed the tussle between the clubs & the AIFF regarding the release of the key players due to national purpose but this time Kovermans is going to get a full-fledged Indian squad. The Singapore side is currently placed 162nd place in the FIFA rankings whereas the Indian side is in the 168th place right now.
The Singapore side have been playing regularly as a preparation of the upcoming AFF Suzuki Cup. However they come into this game missing some key players like captain Shahril Ishak. Serbian Radojko Avramovic has named a full strength squad ahead of the friendly. Singapore last played against Philippines and lost 2-0 when they were expected to easily get past their opponents and then drew 1-1 against Myanmar. 22-year-old goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud will start in goal for the Lions, while Daniel Bennett, a British Citizen who switched nationality to Singapore will lead the defense. The 34-year-old is a veteran of 110 caps and will be accompanied by Baihakki Khaizan in the centre.
Indian captain Sunil Chhetri yesterday said, “we are excited to come here and play. Our last tournament was memorable one but that’s past. Now it’s up to us to take up the challenge.”
The last time India won a match on foreign soil was almost 15 months ago; while the Blue Tigers have beaten Quatar by a 2-1 margin in a friendly game. India don’t have good past away record which should worry Kovermans. The Ductman is expected to apply the same formation 4-4-1-1 he used in the last Nehru Cup.
Possible Starting XI (4-4-1-1): Subrata Pal; Rahim Nabi, Gourmangi Singh, Raju Gaikwad, Nirmal Chhetri; Clifford Miranda, Mehtab Hussain, Lenny Rodriguez, Sanju Pradhan; Alwyn George; Sunil Chhetri
The match starts at 19:45 hours according to Singapore local time. That means, it kick-off is at 17:15 hours IST.
