Lions hungry for a win They consign defeat to China to the bin as Avramovic demands focus

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Asian World Cup qualifier Group A

Singapore vs Iraq

SINGAPORE - The heartbreak against China is in the past, now for Iraq. That was the message from the Lions camp as they limbered up in a light training session for 90 minutes at the Jalan Besar Stadium yesterday ahead of their second Group A match in the third round of the World Cup Asian qualifiers tomorrow.

If they were still smarting from the 2-1 loss to China, who were aided by some controversial decisions by referee Andre El Haddad, they were not going to talk about it.

Said skipper Shahril Ishak: "We just need to focus on Iraq. This is a big task for the boys and we want the three points badly."

Defender Daniel Bennett echoed his sentiments, when he said: "The China game is out of our system. We don't feel sorry for ourselves and we don't want other people to feel sorry for us.

"We didn't get the three points there, so we desperately want to get the three points from this next game and have something to show for all the hard work we've put in over the past few weeks."

Coach Radojko Avramovic arrived for the session ahead of his players and when he blew the whistle for his team to gather, he reminded them of their task ahead.

Iraq were crowned 2007 Asian Cup champions but today they are ranked 109th in the world, 20 places above Singapore.

Like Singapore, they lost their opening group A game, going down 2-0 at home to Jordan. Avramovic knows the importance of the upcoming match.

"We go into every game with the aim of getting all three points. We've been playing well recently, let's hope we continue to play well and keep this momentum", said the Serb.

"We are in the same situation as Iraq right now but it's important for us to take some points from the home games."

The Jalan Besar pitch will make a difference compared to the bog that masqueraded as a football field at the Tuodong Stadium.

Said coach V Sundramoorthy: "Our boys are used to playing on this surface. Everyone's ready for the next game and we want to continue the good work we've done so far."

"We need to take advantage of the fact that Iraq are travelling and need to get used to the Singapore weather," Bennett added.

Striker Qiu Li and midfielder Shi Jiayi have been hit by diarrhoea, picked up in Kunming, and they joined goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud to limber up on the sidelines, while the rest of the team trained.

Lionel Lewis is expected to take over from Izwan if he fails to recover from his ankle injury while Avramovic will wait until matchday to make a decision on Qiu and Shi.

What's important for him now is that his players stay focused.

"They must continue to play as a team and be mindful not to put themselves in a position to make mistakes," he said.