Mustafic Fahrudin and Isa Halim to pair up again in defensive formation for Asian Cup football qualifier

By Les Tan

Tehran, Wednesday, January 14, 2009 – Facing the formidable Iranian side in Tehran calls for a realistic formation and national football coach Raddy Avramovic is a pragmatic man.

Shorn of his first-choice players, the coach is making sure his team leave with some of their dignity intact.

Isa Halim and Mustafic Fahrudin, both defensive midfielders, line up again together. The last outing the pair had together was in the first leg semi-final game against Vietnam in the ASEAN Football Championship (Suzuki Cup) which ended 0-0 in Hanoi.

Upfront, the Lions are severely depleted as well, but coach Avramovic has come up with a solution that might just undo the Iranian defence.

"Our striking situation at the moment is not ideal. I can't choose the best players that are in Singapore, but a situation like this happens sometimes and I have to find a solution for it.

"We currently have four strikers in the team. Indra Sahdan, Noh Alam Shah, Agu Casmir and Ridhuan Muhammud and I have to choose between these four and decide when and how they will play for the team.

"I am going to start with Indra and Alam Shah and as the game progresses Agu and Riduan will feature in the game as I see fit."

First-choice striker Aleksandar Duric was ruled out with a fractured fibula and only just started running yesterday in training with Singapore Armed Forces FC in preparation for the new S.League season.

John WIlkinson makes his first start since a calf injury ruled him out of the first leg semi-final against Vietnam, a key reason why Singapore struggled and eventually lost 0-1 at home in the second leg.

Ismail Yunos, who came on for Noh Rahman and within minutes was responsible for letting Le Cong Vinh get past him which led to Vietnam’s only goal and match winner in that heartbreaking second leg semi-final, will get a rare place in the starting lineup.