World Cup qualifier could be chance to draw fans back

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Singapore football chief Zainudin excited at the prospect of a Causeway derby

May 24, 2011 SINGAPORE - National coach Radojko Avramovic this evening will reveal the much-anticipated list of players in the running to make the final squad that will play in the second round of the Asian Zone 2014 World Cup qualifiers, possibly against arch-rivals Malaysia.

He has already seen the roster and the mix of experience and young blood has received the thumbs up from Football Association of Singapore (FAS) president Zainudin Nordin.

The provisional list of 32 players was handpicked by Avramovic and will be trimmed to 23 before the Lions' first major assignment of the year, a home and away clash with ASEAN champions Malaysia or Taiwan, scheduled for July 23 and July 28, respectively.

Singapore received a bye into the second round, while Malaysia and Taiwan do battle on June 29 (Kuala Lumpur) and July 3 (Taipei).

With Malaysia hot favourites to advance, anticipation is slowly building over a possible Causeway cracker and Zainudin has charged the Lions to come out on top.

"This is an opportunity to draw fans back to the local game and, if Malaysia do advance, the interest will be very high because of our traditional rivalry and we must take advantage to excite the fans," he said.

"But we must beat whoever we meet to advance to the next round and we are planning a communications programme to promote the matches."

It has been almost five months since Singapore were bundled out of the AFF Suzuki Cup in the first round and several long-serving players are expected to be dropped after the shock exit.

Zainudin added: "I am impressed with the players who made the list. It is a roster selected on merit and the mix of experience and young talent holds promise for the future of the national team."

In his effort to draw fans back to the S-League, Zainudin also revealed a recent meeting with four local football bloggers.

It was the first time the FAS president had engaged members of the new media. Aged between 21 and 29, the four were part-time student Muhammad Arief, Neo Chee Seong, who is self employed, IT executive Herdi Juma'at and undergraduate Muhammad Ali Haikal.

"It was refreshing because these guys are loyal supporters of the S-League and they were frank and honest about their opinions," said Zainudin, who will continue engaging members of the new media.

"They had a 15-page document suggesting how to improve the league, how to bond with the community and we will definitely take in their ideas, many of which we have been looking at as well."

The four bloggers also offered to help promote the league through their websites.

Zainudin believes new media has not been fully exploited yet to popularise the local game.

"They (the four bloggers) feel the mainstream media are not giving the S-League enough coverage and the FAS should make use of those in the new media to extend this. We can definitely use their services and I have told them the FAS will assist them fully to generate stories that will be of interest to fans."