Football: Daniel Bennett set to play 100th match for Singapore in friendly against Thailand

Daniel Bennett will likely earn his 100th international cap when he walks out of the tunnel against Thailand on August 24th in Bangkok. The friendly game is to prepare the Lions for the third round of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.

The Singapore 25-man squad has been announced by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) and Daniel Bennett, one of the most experience defenders in the local football, was part of that group. These 25 men have been selected to play in three matches — the warm-up match against Thailand and two World Cup qualifying matches against China and Iraq.

Daniel Bennett made his international debut against the Philippines nine years ago on 11 December 2002 and he is now the most capped active player.

The 33-year-old is also Singapore’s sixth highest capped player and will go joint-fifth with the retired Nazri Nasir should he get his century of international appearances against Thailand. The chances of this happening is high as the SAFFC defender is a crucial part of the Singapore set up and rarely put a foot wrong in for club or country.

Among the 25 players selected for the national team, there are also some new faces. Midfielder Zulfahmi Arifin, who has been playing excellently for the Young Lions, gets his first call while Geylang United’s Hafiz Rahim has been selected for the first time as well as the ripe age of 28.

The uncapped Tanjong Pagar duo of defender Delwinder Singh and goalkeeper Ridhuan Barudin are also part of the team.

But a serious doubt for the matches will be the availability of Safuwan Baharudin and Hariss Harun. The Young Lions pair, who both played brilliantly against Malaysia to help Singapore reach this stage of qualifying, have yet to be released from National Service and they are highly unlikely to feature in these three matches.

Singapore are in Group A together with China, Jordan and Iraq and will start their quest for World Cup qualification against China.

Fixture Details
Match day 1 (2 Sep 2011): China vs Singapore
Match day 2 (6 Sep 2011): Singapore vs Iraq
Match day 3 (11 Oct 2011): Singapore vs Jordan
Match day 4 (11 Nov 2011): Jordan vs Singapore
Match day 5 (15 Nov 2011): Singapore vs China
Match day 6 (29 Feb 2012): Iraq vs Singapore

25-Man World Cup Qualifying Squad