Daniel Bennett 100th cap

Daniel Bennett will play his 100th match in the red of Singapore if he faces Thailand in a friendly match. (Photo 1 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports )

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

Full NameDOBPositionClubCapsGoals
Hariss S/O Harun19 Nov 1990MFCourts Young Lions190
Mohamad Izwan Bin Mahbud14 Jul 1990GKCourts Young Lions30
Mohamed Ruzaini Bin Zainal17 Oct 1988MFCourts Young Lions20
Mohammad Afiq Bin Yunos10 Dec 1990DFCourts Young Lions20
Muhammad Safuwan Bin Baharudin22 Sep 1991DFCourts Young Lions70
Muhammad Zulfahmi Bin Mohd Arifin05 Oct 1991MFCourts Young Lions
Shahdan Bin Sulaiman09 May 1988MFCourts Young Lions50
Mohamed Hafiz Bin Rahim19 Nov 1983FWGeylang United FC
Sevki Bin Sha'ban02 May 1984DFGeylang United FC40
Hamqaamal Shah Bin Hamzah05 Sep 1986DFGombak United FC20
Ismail Bin Yunos24 Oct 1986DFGombak United FC15
Juma'at Bin Jantan23 Feb 1984DFHome United FC210
Lewis Lionel16 Dec 1982GKHome United FC680
Mohammad Isa Bin Abdul Halim15 May 1986MFHome United FC33
Qiu Li06 Jun 1981FWHome United FC81
Shi Jiayi02 Sep 1983MFHome United FC517
Mohammad Shahril Bin Ishak23 Jan 1984MFMedan Chiefs FC855
Bennett Daniel Mark07 Jan 1978DFSAF FC996
Fazrul Nawaz S/O Shahul Hameed17 Apr 1985FWSAF FC464
Mohamad Shaiful Bin Esah Nain12 May 1986DFSAF FC120
Aleksandar Duric12 Aug 1970FWTampines Rovers FC3518
Mustafic Fahrudin17 Apr 1981MFTampines Rovers FC577
Shukor Bin Zailan08 Dec 1985MFTampines Rovers FC20
Delwinder Singh S/O Ranjit Singh05 Aug 1992DFTanjong Pagar United FC
Muhammad Ridhuan Bin Barudin23 Mar 1987GKTanjong Pagar United FC