SINGAPORE will field its A team against the Philippines when the Lions host the Azkals in a friendly match tomorrow at the Jalan Besar Stadium.
The Football Association of Singapore yesterday posted on its website the composition of its 23-man squad that will face the Filipinos, who will go into the game fresh from their runner-up finish in the Long Teng Invitational Cup in Kaohshiung, Taiwan last Tuesday.
The friendly will serve as a tune-up match for Singapore, which faces Jordan in a crucial Asian Word Cup third-round qualifying match next week. The Singaporeans lost to China 1-2 last Sept. 2.
Among the notable Singapore players to watch is 28-year-old goalkeeper Lionel Lewis, who was cited as the Most Valuable Player of the 2004 Tiger Cup, as the Asean football championships was then known.
The 6-foot-1 goalie, who made his national team debut in 2002, was also nominated for the 2006 Asian Footballer of the Year, the only Southeast Asian player so far to be considered for the prestigious award.
Singapore also boasts a dangerous pair of naturalized players–British-born defender David Bennett, 33, and former Serbian national and prolific striker Alexsandar Duric, 41.
Bennett, who was naturalized in 2002, is the most-capped of the Lions with 104 and was a mainstay of the national team that won the 2004 and 2007 Tiger Cups. He also won four championships with the Singapore Armed Forces Football Club in the S-League.
The eldest player in the team, Duric is still considered a scoring machine in the S-League with more than 300 goals and is a darling of Singapore football fans. Since making his Singapore team debut in 2007, the striker leads the squad with a total of 15 markers.
Another Lions to watch is former Shanghai, China native and defender Shi Jaiyi, 28, who joined the Singaporean side in 2005 and was also a prominent member of the squad that won the 2007 Tiger Cup.