Sticking with a working formula ... Avramovic looking for more of the same from Lions against Thailand

Source

International football friendly

Thailand vs Singapore Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok, 6pm (7pm Singapore time)

SINGAPORE - They captured the imagination of the football-watching public, brought back queues for tickets and, indeed, won the heart of the nation.

The Lions' two stirring performances in the 6-4 aggregate victory over old rivals Malaysia in the second round World Cup qualifiers last month saw the Lions play a disciplined, attacking brand of football.

With affirmation received on the pitch and off it, coach Radojko Avramovic will have his charges play more of the same despite injuries and the unavailability of a number of players.

"We have players missing but the team will not play any different. We will use similar players as cover in those positions, because changing a player's position can be confusing," said Avramovic in a telephone interview from Bangkok.

The Lions will face Thailand tonight, in their final warm-up fixture before opening their Group A third round qualifying campaign against China in Kunming on Sept 2.

Central midfielder Hariss Harun, who is into the second week of an eight-week basic police training course, having enlisted for National Service on Aug 10, has not travelled with the squad, and his availability for the China match remains in doubt.

Defender Ismail Yunos, who is said to have injured his knee, is also missing the two matches and striker Fazrul Nawaz has opted to stay home due to personal reasons.

Avramovic's assertion of sticking with the formula means Isa Halim will step in for Hariss to take over defensive duties in the Lions' engine room alongside the recovered Mustafic Fahrudin.

"Mustafic will play a small part in the Thailand game, to have a feeling of how the team works with him there, but he won't play for long as we are saving him for China," added the Serb, who is likely to pick Izwan Mahbud, 21, to start ahead of the recovered Lionel Lewis in the Singapore goal in a bid to maintain continuity.

"I don't understand how Hariss has not been released for such an important game, he will be a big miss. We are missing Ismail and Fazrul as well ... but we still have pretty much the same team that played against Malaysia. We should be devastated by the loss of these players but honestly there's no issue at all," said Lions defensive lynchpin Daniel Bennett.

"We were just happy to see Mustafic put on his boots in training instead of just trainers. He didn't take part in the full training session but the fact that he could take part was very encouraging."

Isa appears to be the only change in the Lions' side that came away from the Bukit Jalil Stadium with a 1-1 draw against Malaysia in the second leg and Avramovic is looking for his team to play a similar game.

"We will have to try to field players who will offer solutions for the problem-positions that we have, with China in mind, and see if these players can step up, in terms of commitment and involvement."

Probable Singapore first XI

Izwan Mahbud, Juma'at Jantan, Daniel Bennett, Safuwan Baharudin, Shaiful Esah, Isa Halim, Mustafic Fahrudin, Shi Jiayi, Shahril Ishak, Qiu Li, Aleksandar Duric