Contributed by Milton Tan

July 30, 2009 – The Singapore National Football Academy's Under-18s will be travelling to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam this Sunday to compete in the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Under-19 Youth Championship 2009, which kicks off on 4 August 2009.

The Singapore team is coached by former national midfielder Salim Moin and the 20-men squad will boast of seven players currently on the Young Lions' roster, including striker Khairul Nizam and midfielder Eugene Luo.

Singapore face a tough group which, in addition to Australia, will also include Thailand and Cambodia, while host Vietnam are in Group B with Myanmar, Timor Leste and Malaysia, who were late replacements for Indonesia who withdrew from the competition. Only the top two teams from each group will proceed into the semi finals, but team coach Salim is still hopeful of a good showing.

"We are looking at a tough group, but hopefully we can make the semi finals. The main aim of the tournament is to assess how our players approach such international competitions and for us to prepare for the upcoming AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Under-19 competition," said Salim.

Although, the qualifying round of the AFC Under-19 Championship will only kick off later this year in November, where Singapore will again be grouped with Australia, as well as Japan, Indonesia, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong, Salim has already drummed into the team the importance this AFF competition will have on the preparations for the AFC tournament in November.

"The most important thing for us in this tournament is to assess our strengths and weakness and the players abilities, especially their tactical, physical and mental strengths. This exercise will expand our pool of players available for selection for the AFC competition because we already have several players in place for the tournament, which we identified from the Prime League, who were not able to travel this time because of club commitments," said Salim.

Singapore will play their opening encounter of the tournament against Australia on Tuesday, 4 August at the Thanh Long Sport Centre at 5.45pm local time (6.45pm Singapore time).

AFF Under-19 Youth Championship fixtures

Group A: Cambodia, Australia, Singapore and Thailand

Group B: Malaysia, Myanmar, Timor Leste and Vietnam

FIXTURES

4 August 2009
Thanh Long Centre -
Myanmar vs Timor Leste (1530)
Australia vs Singapore (1745)

Thong Nhat Stadium -
Cambodia vs Thailand (1530)
Malaysia vs Vietnam (1745)

6 August 2009
Thanh Long Centre -
Timor Leste vs Malaysia (1530)
Singapore vs Cambodia (1745)

Thong Nhat Stadium -
Thailand vs Australia (1530)
Vietnam vs Myanmar (1745)

8 August 2009
Thanh Long Centre -
Cambodia vs Australia (1530)
Malaysia vs Myanmar (1745)

Thong Nhat Stadium -
Thailand vs Singapore (1530)
Vietnam vs Timor Leste (1745)

10 August 2009
Thong Nhat Stadium -
Semi-finals 1 – Winner A vs Runner up B (1515)
Semi-finals 2 – Winner B vs Runner up A (1745)

12 August 2009
Thong Nhat Stadium -
3rd / 4th Placing – Loser SF1 vs Loser SF2 (1530)
Final – Winner SF1 vs Winner SF2 (1745)

Singapore National Football Academy Under-18 Team

NEEZAM ABDUL AZIZ
GK
25/4/1991
ITE EAST

SYED SUFIYAN
GK
22/04/1992
ITE EAST

AMIRRUL KAMAL
DF
18/03/1991
NGEE ANN POLYTECHNIC

AZFAR ZAINAL ABIDIN
DF
3/02/1991
ITE TAMPINES

FARISS HAIQEL
DF
21/02/1991
NGEE ANN POLYTECHNIC

MADHU M. MOHANA
DF
6/03/1991
REPUBLIC POLYTECHNIC

SAFUWAN BAHARUDIN
DF
22/09/1991
ITE EAST

SHAKIR HAMZAH
DF
20/10/1992
ITE BUKIT BATOK

EMMERIC ONG YU MIN
MF
25/01/1991
TEMASEK POLYTECHNIC

EUGENE LUO ZHENLUN
MF
20/01/1991
TEMASEK POLYTECHNIC

FAIZ RONEDIN
MF
3/07/1991
ITE EAST

FAZLI YAHAYA
MF
26/03/1992
ITE BUKIT BATOK

HAZIQ AZMAN
MF
1/07/1991
ITE EAST

NAZRUL AHMAD NAZARI
MF
11/02/1991
ITE BUKIT BATOK

RAIHAN ABDUL RAHMAN
MF
7/02/1991
ITE EAST

SAFIRUL SULAIMAN
MF
12/10/1992
SINGAPORE SPORTS SCHOOL

ZULFAHMI ARIFIN
MF
5/10/1991
ITE EAST

KHAIRUL NIZAM
FW
25/06/1991
ITE EAST

MUHAYMIN SALIM
FW
5/05/1992
SINGAPORE SPORTS SCHOOL

SYAFIQ ZAINAL
FW
19/07/1991
NGEE ANN POLYTECHNIC