A Lion rises from the depths of despair Once told he would never play football again, right-back Ismail Yunos is set to face Malaysia

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SINGAPORE - Back from the dead. There is really no other way to put it.

Speaking to TODAY, Ismail Yunos' raw emotion bubbled just beneath the surface, as he struggled to tell the story of those 21 dark months, when it seemed as if a once blossoming football career was dead and buried.

He cannot forget it, even though tonight, Ismail is almost certain to step out onto the Jalan Besar green, the Singapore flag on his chest, in one of the biggest games for the Lions, against their greatest rivals.

Singapore will face Malaysia in the first match of their double-header in the second round of the World Cup qualifiers and he is set to hold the fort on the right side of the Lions' defence, facing the dangerous marauder S Kunalan.

After almost two years of torment and uncertainty after two career-threatening injuries, it is almost as if the 25-year-old is starting anew.

The first setback came in 2009, when he suffered a rare form of cartilage injury in his right knee.

The first doctor said his career had ended, five others verified his prognosis.

But Ismail buckled down and returned after a 13-month layoff, only for heartbreak again.

Three months after his return, he tore the anterior cruciate and lateral collateral ligaments in his left knee and spent another six miserable months on the sidelines.

Choking on his words, the defender said yesterday: "I couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, couldn't think or do anything properly ... I just wanted to be alone.

"My family, especially my mother, were my biggest support. I said to myself that I wasn't going to give up, but I was just crumbling away inside."

He paused, forced to collect himself.

"They told me six months is nothing, it'll fly right by. To give up when my loved ones didn't was a big shame. I really wouldn't be here without them," he added, voice still quivering.

Ismail will forever be grateful to Lions' fitness coach Aleksandar Bozenko, known affectionately as Sasha, who he credited for standing by him in all those gym sessions critical to his rehabilitation.

"My family and Sasha really kept me going. With the first injury, I knew that whatever the doctors said, I would still play football."

Ismail's last memory of international football was a nightmarish outing against Iran in an Asian Cup qualifier in January 2009.

After 40 minutes, Singapore were holding out against the Asian giants, but then came a two-footed lunge by Ismail which saw him receive a straight red card. Iran eventually won 6-0.

Critics were hard on him, but Ismail believes he is older and wiser now.

"I have to accept it professionally and positively. Critics don't just bring you down, if you take it well, it makes you move forward in life, and not just as a footballer ... I want to prove everyone wrong, I have a lot work to do, but I want to prove every one of them wrong," he said.

He broke into a smile for the first time as he recalled his return to the football pitch in February.

"It was like playing football for the first time again, I remember the adrenaline ... no matter how tired I was, I didn't want to miss a single minute."

Ismail did not believe it when TODAY told him earlier this year that he was likely to be included in Avramovic's Lions squad, and, more than anything else, the fact that he no longer takes anything for granted is probably why he will start tonight.

"I was shocked when I saw my name in that squad list. I'm honoured and humbled, I will keep working hard and remember where all this came from," he vowed.



Singapore's probable XI

Izwan Mahbud, Ismail Yunos, Safuwan Baharudin, Daniel Bennett, Juma'at Jantan, Mustafic Fahrudin, Hariss Harun, Shi Jiayi, Shahdan Sulaiman, Shahril Ishak, Aleksandar Duric



The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier between Singapore and Malaysia will be broadcast live on MediaCorp TV's Channel 5 at 7:25pm tonight
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