Singapore national youth football team

Singapore NFA U15/16s
Nickname(s) The Cubs
The Young Lions
The Schoolboys
Association Football Association of Singapore
Sub-confederation AFF (Southeast Asia)
Confederation AFC (Asia)
Head coach Takuma Koga (Under-16) / Dejan Gluscveic (Under-15)
Asst coach Abdullah Noor (Under-16) / Shahrin Shari (Under-15)
Captain Jeffrey Lightfoot (Under-16) / Adam Swandi (Under-15)
Top scorer Adam Swandi (6 goals)
Home stadium Jalan Besar Stadium (temporarily shared with the senior team)
FIFA code SIN
Home colours
Away colours
First international
Singapore YOG 3–1 Zimbabwe 
(Singapore, 13 August 2010)
Biggest win
Singapore U15 (2011) 5–0 Vietnam 
(Laos, 8 July 2011)
 Philippines 0–5 Singapore U15 ('11)
(Laos, 10 July 2011)
Biggest defeat
Flamengo U15 3–0 Sin. U15 ('11)
(Singapore, 24 Jun 2011)
AFF U-16 Youth Championship (since 2011)
Appearances 1 (First in 2011)
Best result 2011 – Fourth place
Website FAS

The Singapore national youth football team, nicknamed the Cubs, can refer to either of the following teams: the Under-16 team that represented the nation in the inaugural Youth Olympic Games and the Lion City Cup, and the Under-15s, which also took part in the Lion City Cup, and also the AFF U16 Championship. The youth team's honours include bronze for the YOG, second and third places for the Lion City Cup (the former being the U16s and the latter being the U15s). The team is also one of the favourites in Singapore sport as of 2011.

Contents

Background

Breakthrough

For many, the 2010 YOG team of Singapore under Kadir Yahaya seemed to be one of the best national sides in recent memory, and so many Singaporeans were disappointed when they lost the semi-final 2–0 to the Haiti youth team, the eventual silver medallists. [1] They beat Montenegro in the third-place playoffs to clinch the bronze medal.

Lion City Cup

In 2011, when Singapore revived the Lion City Cup, another team emerged from the shadows – the Under-15 team. The YOG side, though skipper Lightfoot was absent, played under a new coach: Takuma Koga. They grabbed second and third places (U16s – 2nd; U15s – 3rd), beating the youth sides (U15) of Juventus, Everton and Newcastle United.[2]

Jeffrey Lightfoot of the U16s was called up, but he injured himself and coach Takuma Koga and the FAS ruled him out for the whole campaign, leaving Dhukhilan Jeevamani to stand in as captain, and Illyas Lee playing second fiddle to Jeevamani.

The years

Youth Olympics – The Road To Bronze (2010)

2010 marked the breakthrough of the Cubs as they went through the Youth Olympic Games, held in their own home, comfortably. They managed to get through the semi-finals before succumbing to a defeat against underdogs Haiti,[3] who eventually lost the final and got second. Singapore then beat Montenegro 4–1 to grab third place, bronze.

Group stage

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Singapore 2 2 0 0 6 3 +3 6
 Montenegro 2 1 0 1 4 4 0 3
 Zimbabwe 2 0 0 2 2 5 −3 0

Semi-finals

Bronze Medal match

This match involved a lot of controversy, with a few Montenegro players accused of diving. Drawn 1–1, Singapore came back and eventually won the match 4–1.

Lion City Cup: Under-16s journey (2011)

As Under-16s, the ones who wholeheartedly fought for the bronze at the Youth Olympics, a lot was expected from them in the Lion City Cup. Though captain Jeffrey Lightfoot was absent with an injury, they managed to pull through to get first runners-up for the competition under temporary captain Dhukhilan Jeevamani.[4] They also went with new coach Takuma Koga.

Group stage[5]

All attendances are referenced from -> [6]

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
CR Flamengo U15 2 1 1 0 2 1 +1 4
Singapore U16 2 0 2 0 2 2 0 2
Everton U15 2 0 1 1 1 2 −1 1

Semi finals

All attendances are referenced from -> [6]
Singapore was first to shoot for penalties.

The semi-final between the youth team and Juventus U15 was an exciting match, with man of the match Hazim Hassan scoring 2 goals in the first half, and Juventus coming back with another 2 in the second. The penalty shootout, though, was plagued with controversy, as the referee made Jonathan Tan retake his penalty, allowing Singapore to score (Jonathan missed the first one). At the end of the match, Juventus players haunted the referee.[7]

Final

Fashah Rosedin, or Fashah Iskandar (whichever you want to call him) was the most outstanding player that night against Flamengo. Sadly, Caio Rangel and his other Samba football fellows proved to be better, bringing the game to penalties where they won.

Lion City Cup: Under-15s journey (2011)

The hot-new product, the team that graduated from a U14 group in the Singapore National Football Academy to the very team included in a project for the future of Singapore football, the U15s were one of the favourites to make sure that the cup stayed in Singapore. Their journey was unsuccessful, grabbing only third, losing to Flamengo U15 in the semi-finals and toppling Juventus U15 4–0, a record biggest win, not to be broken until the U15s went against Vietnam in July during the AFF U16 Youth Championship, where they won 5–0.

Group stage

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Juventus U15 2 2 0 0 3 1 +2 6
Singapore U15 2 1 0 1 5 5 0 3
Newcastle U15 2 0 0 2 3 5 −2 0

Their very first group game, up against Newcastle United's U15 batch, could arguably be one of the most exciting matches ever in Singapore football. Down 3–1, Singapore used just nine minutes to score 3 back, and eventually win 4–3.

Semi-finals

The Singapore U15s navigated past the group stage, leaving Newcastle U15 behind, and reaching to a clash with competition favourites Flamengo. Eventually, they were outclassed in terms of skills and goals, and their misery was ended with a 3–0 loss, recorded as the biggest loss the Singapore youth/teen team (U14-16) ever had, breaking the 2–0 record loss to Haiti.

Third-place play-off

This match, along with the Singapore U16 semi-final with the same Italian opponents, brought controversy as Juventus were victims to both refereeing mistakes, or bias. The two matches have led to the FAS to declare that next year's Lion City Cup will switch – foreign referees for Singapore matches and vice-versa. This match set the record, the biggest win the Singapore youth team has had, but was broken by a 5–0 win over Vietnam, also won by this very Singapore U15 team.

The AFF U-16 Championship (2011)

The U15 team, captained by Adam Swandi, took part in the AFF U-16 Championship, and got fourth place. During their trip their they broke the record 4–0 win, winning 5–0 against both Vietnam and the Philippines.

The team was managed by Dejan Gluscevic, and during their time there, they won 3 matches and lost 3 matches, losing both the semi-finals and the third place play-offs. The Championship also brought out 5 goals from captain and midfielder Adam Swandi, who scored 5 goals, against Vietnam, the first goal since his very first international goal (against Juventus), the Philippines and Myanmar – these 5 and the goal against Juventus U15 made him the youth team's (U16 combined) top scorer, ahead of Muhaimin Suhaimi of the U16s.

Competition records

AFF Youth Championship (U-16)

Year Group Round Position GP W D L GS GA
2011 U15 (2011 gen.) Semi-finals Fourth 6 3 0 3 16 5

Players and Staff

Current squad

This is the squad, as of 2011, in the Lion City Cup and the AFF U-16 Championship.[8][9]

C – Captain
VC – Vice-captain

No (#) Name Group (U15 or 16) Recent call-up
Goalkeepers
1 Fashah Rosedin Iskandar U16 2011 Lion City Cup
18 Hamzah Fazil U16 2011 Lion City Cup
1 Heirul Suhanes U15 2011 AFF U-16 Championship
12 Elfi Shahrul U15 2011 AFF U-16 Championship
Defenders
5 Jeffrey A. Lightfoot (C for U16) U16 2011 Lion City Cup (pulled out due to injury)
14 Illyas Lee (VC for U16) U16 2011 Lion City Cup
16 Dhukhilan Jeevamani (VC for U16) U16 2011 Lion City Cup (stand-in captain for campaign)
19 Fatemy Firdouse U16 2011 Lion City Cup
2 Ehvin Sasidharan U15 2011 AFF U-16 Championship
4 Sadik Said U15 2011 AFF U-16 Championship
5 R. Aaravin U15 2011 AFF U-16 Championship
14 Bryan Tan U15 2011 AFF U-16 Championship
21 Taufiq Hossain U15 2011 AFF U-16 Championship
Midfielders
6 Amirul Mazlan U16 2011 Lion City Cup
7 Brandon Koh U16 2011 Lion City Cup
8 Iskandar Khairul Anuar U16 2011 Lion City Cup
9 Syazwan Mohamed Zin U16 2011 Lion City Cup
10 Hanafi Akbar U16 2011 Lion City Cup
11 Jonathan Tan U16 2011 Lion City Cup
15 Bryan Neubronner U16 2011 Lion City Cup
3 Mahathir Azeman U15 2011 AFF U-16 Championship
6 Amirul Azmi U15 2011 AFF U-16 Championship
8 Muhelmy Suhaimi U15 2011 AFF U-16 Championship
10 Adam Bin Swandi (C for U15) U15 2011 AFF U-16 Championship
13 Rifqi Yazid U15 2011 AFF U-16 Championship
15 Raja Ahmad Zaki U15 2011 AFF U-16 Championship
Forwards
13 Hazim Hassan U16 2011 Lion City Cup
17 Muhaimin Suhaimi U16 2011 Lion City Cup
7 Zulfadhmi Suzliman U15 2011 AFF U-16 Championship
9 Irfan Iezran U15 2011 AFF U-16 Championship
11 Azhar Ramli U15 2011 AFF U-16 Championship
17 Faridzuan Fuad U15 2011 AFF U-16 Championship
18 Faizal Raffi U15 2011 AFF U-16 Championship

Recent call-ups

These players listed were recently called-up in competitions / matches before the previous ones, but were not called-up for the previous event.

Pos. Name Group Event
DF Syazwan Radhi U16 2010 Summer Youth Olympics
DF Irfan Aysraf U16 2010 Summer Youth Olympics
MF Sunny Ng U16 2010 Summer Youth Olympics

Coaches

Head Coach

Former Head Coaches

Assistant Coach

Player History

Captains

Roles:
Captain – The team leader.
Stand-in captain – Stood in when captain was absent (applies only for a standing in for at least 3 games in a row.)
The role of vice-captain does not apply here. Also, caps and goals only count for when it was earned during captaincy.

Under-16s

No. Pos. Name Type Years in captaincy Caps Goals
5 DF Jeffrey Lightfoot Captain 2010–present 4 1
16 DF Dhukhilan Jeevamani Stand-in captain 2011 (stint) 4 0

Under-15s

No. Pos. Name Type Years in captaincy Caps Goals
10 MF Adam bin Swandi Captain 2011–present 10 6

Coach statistics

Note: Do note that all results are counted at the end of the final whistle, or a.e.t. if there is extra time. Matches with a penalty shoot-out outcome are still counted as a draw. Win PSO means the number of drawn games won via penalties, and the Win PSO (%) is the percentage of winning via penalties.

Under 16s

Name Reign Games Wins Draws Losses Wins (PSO) Win (%) Win PSO (%)
Kadir Yahaya 2010 4 3 0 1 0 75 0
Takuma Koga 2011– present 4 0 4 0 1 0 50

Under 15s

Name Reign Games Wins Draws Losses Wins (PSO) Win (%) Win PSO (%)
Dejan Gluscveic 2011–present 10 5 0 5 0 50 0

Stadium

The youth team uses the Jalan Besar Stadium, sharing it temporarily with the senior team before the senior team moves to Singapore Sports Hub when it has finished construction.

See also

References

  1. ^ Boys' Youth Olympic Football Tournament Singapore 2010: Singapore 0:2 (0:1) Haiti – Report. FIFA.com. Retrieved on 2011-08-15.
  2. ^ Lion City Cup. Lion City Cup. Retrieved on 2011-08-15.
  3. ^ Youth Olympic Football: One step too far for Singapore as Haiti steal 2–0 win « Red Sports. Always Game. Redsports.sg. Retrieved on 2011-08-15.
  4. ^ Tan, Jasmond. (2011-06-30) Cubs will get better and better: Jeffrey Lightfoot | Fit to Post Sports – Yahoo! News. Sg.news.yahoo.com. Retrieved on 2011-08-15.
  5. ^ Lion City Cup. Lion City Cup. Retrieved on 2011-08-15.
  6. ^ a b Lion City Cup. Lion City Cup. Retrieved on 2011-08-15.
  7. ^ Lion City Cup Football: Singapore U16s beat Juventus in semi-final penalty shootout drama « Red Sports. Always Game. Redsports.sg. Retrieved on 2011-08-15.
  8. ^ Kadir Yahaya confirms Singapore U-15 football squad for YOG « Red Sports. Always Game. Redsports.sg. Retrieved on 2011-08-15.
  9. ^ DO NOT FOLLOW SQUAD NUMBERS IN THIS LINK, PLAYERS CHOSEN FROM HERE PLAYED IN THE LION CITY CUP: http://www.fas.org.sg/national-team/u15-team
National teams
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National football teams of Asia (AFC)
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East Asia (EAFF)
West Asia (WAFF)
Defunct
Former
Israel (moved to UEFA in 1994) · New Zealand (formed the OFC in 1966) · Kazakhstan (moved to UEFA in 2002).

1 Provisional Associate Member - Not a member of FIFA

2FIFA and AFC use Hong Kong and Macau; the EAFF uses Hong Kong, China and Macau, China.