AFF Suzuki Cup Preview 3

Singapore will face Vietnam in their final group game of the AFF Suzuki Cup tomorrow. The Vietnamese badly need to win this match or they face the prospect of being eliminated when they are both the hosts and defending champions.

The Lions would only require a draw to advance to the semi-finals. The other two teams of the group, Philippines and Myanmar, also play a decisive role to whom gets qualified. But either way, Singapore still looks safe for a spot in the semis.

Vietnam will give Singapore a tough time and the latter have not emerged victorious whenever both sides meet for more than a decade. Plus, the game is held at My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi which can house 40000 noisy home supporters.

I expect Singapore to just squeeze out a goalless stalemate with the Vietnamese controlling the game. Goalkeeper Hassan Sunny should get ready to suffer several moments of heart attacks while playing.

I hope Vietnam gets eliminated eventually because they did not deserve to be the winners two years ago. Thailand would certainly agree with me on this point.

As for the Singapore squad, Aleksandar Duric is currently the top scorer with 2 goals but I believe the Lions would have scored many more if he didn't play.

The injury-time goal against Myanmar clearly showed that Duric was sluggish and communicated half a second slower with Agu Casmir the scorer. Luckily, Agu's finishing was clinical or else everyone would have blamed Duric for his "lagging performance".

Raddy Avramovic had once again exposed his flaws as a manger. He made two substitutions at only half-time which includes replacing the ineffective Noh Alam Shah and bringing on Khairul Amri.

If Avaramovic had foreseen this (before the game), Singapore might have enjoyed an easier time in the first 45 minutes. This shows that the Serb doesn't know how to fully utilize the resources at his disposal.

I would be a much better coach of the national team