Men’s National Team Coach Tatsuma Yoshida has called up 24 players from the AIA Singapore Premier League (SPL) for a series of training sessions later this month.
The sessions will take place from 23 to 27 March and will allow the Japanese tactician, who extended his contract with the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) last month, to run the rule over these local-based players from across seven SPL clubs.
It will be the first time that the Lions will come together since similar sessions were conducted in March last year. In the months that followed, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has forced our international commitments to be postponed; the team is set to resume action this June when our remaining three Group D matches for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup 2023 Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2 are played in Saudi Arabia.
Over the past year, Tatsuma has regularly kept tabs on all of our players and has called up seven of them – Fashah Iskandar, Ryhan Stewart, Lionel Tan, Tajeli Salamat, Nur Adam Abdullah, Saifullah Akbar and Ilhan Fandi – for the first time. In addition, two players – Khairin Nadim and Idraki Adnan – have been invited to take part in the sessions, although they will not be considered official call-ups.
Tatsuma said: “There are three objectives that we aim to achieve during the upcoming sessions. The first is for the players to display a competitive spirit and show the desire to play for Singapore wearing the National Team jersey. Secondly, it is to share our playing philosophy, which is to always be positive, try to attack and play the ball forward. The third is to assess the physical condition and technical ability of all the players.
“I have watched all of these players closely and for the new faces, they have earned their opportunities through good performances. We are always looking out for talent and I hope they can follow the concepts of the National Team. Some of them may be young, but they have good potential.
“I also want to express my appreciation to all the SPL clubs for their cooperation in releasing the players for the sessions, which are important for our preparations for future matches.”
Player list for training sessions from 23 to 27 March 2021
| S/N | Name | Pos | Caps | Goals | DOB | Club |
| 1 | Fashah Iskandar | GK | 0 | 0 | 6-May-95 | Tanjong Pagar United |
| 2 | Hassan Sunny | GK | 85 | 0 | 2-Apr-84 | Lion City Sailors |
| 3 | Syazwan Buhari | GK | 0 | 0 | 22-Sep-92 | Tampines Rovers |
| 4 | Zaiful Nizam | GK | 3 | 0 | 24-Jul-87 | Balestier Khalsa |
| 5 | Amirul Adli | DF | 11 | 0 | 13-Jan-96 | Lion City Sailors |
| 6 | Baihakki Khaizan | DF | 137 | 5 | 31-Jan-84 | Tampines Rovers |
| 7 | Darren Teh | DF | 2 | 0 | 19-Aug-96 | Geylang International |
| 8 | Hafiz Sujad | DF | 41 | 1 | 1-Nov-90 | Hougang United |
| 9 | Lionel Tan | DF | 0 | 0 | 5-Jun-97 | Hougang United |
| 10 | Madhu Mohana | DF | 30 | 0 | 6-Mar-91 | Tampines Rovers |
| 11 | Nur Adam Abdullah | DF | 0 | 0 | 13-Apr-01 | Lion City Sailors |
| 12 | Ryhan Stewart | DF | 0 | 0 | 15-Feb-00 | Young Lions |
| 13 | Tajeli Salamat | DF | 0 | 0 | 7-Feb-94 | Lion City Sailors |
| 14 | Christopher Van Huizen | MF | 4 | 0 | 28-Nov-92 | Geylang International |
| 15 | Farhan Zulkifli | MF | 0 | 0 | 10-Nov-02 | Hougang United |
| 16 | Saifullah Akbar | MF | 0 | 0 | 31-Jan-99 | Lion City Sailors |
| 17 | Shahdan Sulaiman | MF | 64 | 4 | 9-May-88 | Lion City Sailors |
| 18 | Yasir Hanapi | MF | 37 | 1 | 21-Jun-89 | Tampines Rovers |
| 19 | Faris Ramli | FW | 56 | 9 | 24-Aug-92 | Lion City Sailors |
| 20 | Gabriel Quak | FW | 35 | 5 | 22-Dec-90 | Lion City Sailors |
| 21 | Hafiz Nor | FW | 6 | 1 | 22-Aug-88 | Lion City Sailors |
| 22 | Hazzuwan Halim | FW | 3 | 0 | 2-Feb-94 | Balestier Khalsa |
| 23 | Ilhan Fandi | FW | 0 | 0 | 8-Nov-02 | Young Lions |
| 24 | Shawal Anuar | FW | 10 | 1 | 29-Apr-91 | Hougang United |
