The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) has announced Fandi Ahmad as the Singapore national team coach until the end of the 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup. The announcement was made by FAS President Lim Kia Tong and his Executive Council members at a news conference at Jalan Besar Stadium on Tuesday, May 15.
Fandi, who is also the current coach of the Young Lions in the Singapore Premier League, will take over with immediate effect and prepare the team for the upcoming Suzuki Cup. As FAS continues its search for the next national team coach, Fandi has wasted little time and has delved straight into work.
He also revealed plans to rope in former national players Noh Alam Shah and S. Subramani as part of his backroom setup. This could be a major boost for the national team as the Lions need all the help they can get especially in defence. Under former coach V. Sundramoorthy, the Lions have been shambolic in defence and conceded a whopping nine goals in their last five games. Sundram was heavily criticised for his team's form especially with the fact that his team only managed a win against Maldives in a friendly.
This obviously isn't good enough for a team with aspirations to win the AFF Championship and Fandi will realise this. He will need to galvanise the squad and transmit his ideas clearly to the squad; something his former team-mate Sundram reportedly wasn't able to do. It will be a daunting task for Fandi but in all honesty, even the likes of Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte will definitely find it a challenge to resuscitate the fortunes of a beleaguered Singapore national team. Morale of the squad was at an all-time low during Sundram’s tenure while criticism was at an all-time high.
In the Lions’ abysmal Asian Cup qualification campaign, they were rooted to the bottom of Group E collecting only two points from five games. The bruising campaign saw the Lions lose to teams such as Chinese Taipei, Turkmenistan and Lebanon. A crushing 3-0 defeat inflicted by Bahrain on home turf only served to highlight the state of Singapore’s national team.
Sundram, in particular, was criticised for his tactics. His soak and counter strategy drew the ire of fans and pundits alike. However, his choice of tactics was just the tip of the iceberg as to what is the underlying problem within Singapore’s footballing ecosystem. It is obvious to see that problems run deeper. Sundram mentioned that his choices are a reflection of what he has at his disposal. This could be as plain as him saying that our players aren’t technically competent or we don’t have a larger talent pool.
Moving forward, for Fandi he will need to find solutions fast and quick. In the upcoming AFF Championship. Singapore was unfortunately drawn into the Group of Death. The Lions are in Group B with two-time defending champions Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and the winners of the Brunei v Timor-Leste qualifiers on Sept 3 and 11. It goes without saying that a monumental task awaits the Lions. Especially, since Thailand and Indonesia have already surpassed Singapore, to emerge as regional powerhouses in their own right. However, don’t bet against Fandi pulling off a surprise. The man is an idol to Singapore’s footballers and he could just be the right inspiration to bring back the roar to the Lions.