Singapore squad for AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup announced

SINGAPORE: Singapore men's national football team head coach Takayuki Nishigaya has named his squad for the upcoming ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Mitsubishi Electric Cup.

The 23-man squad includes a mix of mainstays and new faces, including five players who will be part of a Lions squad at the regional tournament for the first time, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) said in a media release on Tuesday (Dec 20).

The five are: Defenders Christopher van Huizen, Joshua Pereira and Ryhan Stewart, and midfielders Shah Shahiran and Farhan Zulkifli.

Veteran goalkeeper Hassan Sunny will head to an AFF Championship with the Lions for a record ninth time, FAS said.

Ikhsan Fandi and Adam Swandi will miss the tournament through injury, while Taufik Suparno withdrew due to family reasons.

Singapore were drawn in Group B of the tournament and will face Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Malaysia. Group A consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

"The squad had commenced a final phase of preparations from Dec 1 with a 12-day training camp in Chiba, Japan," FAS said.

"There, the Lions played three training matches – one against J3 League side YSCC Yokohama and two against Ryutsu Keizai University."

The final warm-up match was an international friendly against the Maldives last Saturday, which Singapore won 3-1.

Nishigaya, who took over as head coach in April, said that he had confidence in his side.

"It is important that all the players have tremendous commitment and desire to play for the Lions, and having observed the players since selecting the provisional squad, I have full confidence in this final squad to overcome any challenges as one," he said.

"It was not easy to make the selection choices but I believe