It was a tale of contrasting moods with national coach K. Rajagobal, who led his team to back-to-back regional titles over the past two years, speaking more confidently about today's second round, first leg World Cup qualifying match. His Singaporean counterpart Raddy Avramovic, who is under pressure after his team's poor outing in last year's AFF Cup, was hardly in the mood to reveal much about his team.
Avramovic may have guided Singapore to back-to-back AFF Cups and also the third round of the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers but has lost the support of fans.
Singapore's dismal showing in last year's AFF Cup, where they were eliminated in the group stage in Hanoi, turned the fans against Avramovic and he badly needs a win today.
Recent records suggest that this is possible as Malaysia have not won an away match since their 4-1 victory over Sri Lanka in 2007.
Besides that, Singapore have not lost to Malaysia in their last seven meetings.
"I believe games like this will help Singapore to be better in Asia. We cannot compare the current Singapore team with those of the past as we only had a short preparation period.
"But it does not mean we are giving up. My players are capable of playing good football.
"I want to see goals as that is all we need to win this match," said Avramovic yesterday.
He has been working closely with his players behind closed doors at the Jalan Besar Stadium.
"We will try to use our quality to eliminate Malaysia's quality tomorrow (today). I am quite happy with the progress shown in training," added Avramovic.
As for Rajagobal, the former international is hoping to lead Malaysia to their first ever appearance in the third round of the qualifiers.
But he is anticipating a close encounter in today's first leg.
"It's another football game, but obviously there will be a lot of external references and historical references. But for us, it's a game against a decent outfit and we have to win to progress.
"This match has attracted a lot of attention because of past history. I also believe this encounter will bring out the best from the players of both teams. We are prepared for anything," added Rajagobal.
Avramovic may have guided Singapore to back-to-back AFF Cups and also the third round of the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers but has lost the support of fans.
Singapore's dismal showing in last year's AFF Cup, where they were eliminated in the group stage in Hanoi, turned the fans against Avramovic and he badly needs a win today.
Recent records suggest that this is possible as Malaysia have not won an away match since their 4-1 victory over Sri Lanka in 2007.
Besides that, Singapore have not lost to Malaysia in their last seven meetings.
"I believe games like this will help Singapore to be better in Asia. We cannot compare the current Singapore team with those of the past as we only had a short preparation period.
"But it does not mean we are giving up. My players are capable of playing good football.
"I want to see goals as that is all we need to win this match," said Avramovic yesterday.
He has been working closely with his players behind closed doors at the Jalan Besar Stadium.
"We will try to use our quality to eliminate Malaysia's quality tomorrow (today). I am quite happy with the progress shown in training," added Avramovic.
As for Rajagobal, the former international is hoping to lead Malaysia to their first ever appearance in the third round of the qualifiers.
But he is anticipating a close encounter in today's first leg.
"It's another football game, but obviously there will be a lot of external references and historical references. But for us, it's a game against a decent outfit and we have to win to progress.
"This match has attracted a lot of attention because of past history. I also believe this encounter will bring out the best from the players of both teams. We are prepared for anything," added Rajagobal.
No comments:
Post a Comment