Are national footballers Indra and Precious likely to go in major team overhaul?

By Koh Yizhe and Les Tan

With his successful new lineup in Singapore’s 2-1 win over Jordan, the time has probably come for national coach Raddy Avramovic to undertake a major overhaul of the national squad.

He showed his commitment to team renewal when he dropped senior players Zulkarnaen Zainal, goalkeeper Rezal Hassan and Rafi Ali when he took over to accommodate younger players like Khairul Amri and Baihakki Khaizan.

Given the starting lineup last night, it is probable that Indra Sahdan and Precious Emuejeraye are prime candidates for the chop.

Indra, who turns 30 in March, has fallen behind Aleksandar Duric, Agu Casmir and Noh Alam Shah for the striker’s position and is now seldom a first-team pick.

However, it seems Indra may have a hard time accepting that.

"I can see how (Avramovic) is angry with our performance," said Indra to Today (Avramovic sharpens his axe; January 20, 2009), in reference to the 0-6 loss, a game which he started and captained.

"But if he were to drop players just based on workrate and effort, I wouldn't agree with that because player quality is important."

However, a clear sign of his impending departure is the fact that he didn’t even sit on the bench to watch the game against Jordan. He is apparently down with a twisted ankle.

Coach Avramovic has shown that he is more impressed with teamwork that individual reputations. He told the Straits Times (Lion Tamer; Sunday, January 25, 2009): “These players think they are too good for the team, preferring to show off their individual skills rather than stick to teamwork. But they don’t have the quality to beat their markers in one-versus-one situations.”

Avramovic didn’t name the players publicly, but his starting lineup tells the story.

Dropping Indra will bring to an end the career of the most capped Singapore player on the squad. Indra has 104 national appearances and 25 goals but he has only scored one goal in the last 20 months of his international career, a poor return for a striker.

In the case of central defender Precious Emuejeraye, he started on the bench as expected and was replaced by Daniel Bennett who moved in from left back. Precious’ lack of speed led to Singapore’s exit at the hands of Vietnam in the ASEAN Football Championship (Suzuki Cup).

Bennett’s ability to track back and shut down scoring chances in the 2-1 win over Jordan made the contrast with relatively immobile Precious all the more stark and coach Avramovic will probably not start Precious again.

Precious underwent left knee and right ankle surgeries last year and that may have slowed down the 25-year-old who now has trouble keeping up with pacy strikers. The Vietnamese even managed to make him look fragile in the air despite his 1.87m frame.

Precious is also without an S.League club after Gombak failed to resign him, leaving him in a lurch.

“When the season ended in November, I had the impression that I would stay on with Gombak,” Precious told the Straits Times (Gombak left me in a lurch: Emuejeraye; Wednesday, January 21, 2009).

“But four days before the new year, I was told that I would be released. That came as a shock,” he said.

If he does play in Indonesia as reported in the same Straits Times story, that will certainly take him out of the national setup as Avramovic is highly unlikely to pick a player he cannot monitor on a regular basis.

Despite the win over Jordan, Avramovic expressed dissatisfied with how the team is doing in the post-game conference.

"Yes, I am satisfied with the win. In every game, there will be downs. We don't have the 100% team spirit, but I feel there is more," he said.

Certainly one way of upping team spirit is to clear out players who are past their prime and living on past reputations to bring in players who can do the business. Because nothing kills morale faster than fielding a player that can’t carry his weight anymore. To tolerate non-performance would also undercut his own authority, and Avramovic has shown in the six years he has been in charge that he knows how to remain in charge.