Lions coach Avramovic announces squad overhaul
National football coach Raddy Avramovic has axed eight players from December's Suzuki Cup squad, including former skipper Noh Alam Shah and Baihakki Khaizan.
Although Avramovic refused to rule them out of future selections, some observers believe that the duo have been playing way below par the past few years and deserved to be dropped.
While a total of eight players were dropped, 13 received their first call-up for the Lions, including 24-year-old Balestier Khalsa forward Andrew Tan, and Tanjong Pagar United defender Delwinder Singh, who, at 19, is the youngest player on the list.
The 61-year-old Serb announced a provisional squad of 33 players for the World Cup 2014 qualifiers on Tuesday evening, ending months of uncertainty after the Lions were disbanded by Football Association of Singapore (FAS) president Zainudin Nordin in January.
The drastic move back then came after the team's failure to get past the group stage of the AFF Suzuki Cup last December -- the first time since 2002 -- and the new team will seek to erase those bad memories.
The squad of 33 will be further trimmed to a final 18, who will then face Malaysia or Chinese Taipei in the second round of the two-legged World Cup qualifiers on July 23 and 28.
According to the 61-year-old Serbian coach, the team was picked based on form and ability, regardless of age.
This meant that there was still a place for S-League top scorer Aleksandar Duric, a veteran of the game who turns 41 in August. He has scored 12 goals in 14 games for Tampines Rovers this year.
However, despite much hype of an overhaul to the team, a large number of senior players have retained their places.
Stalwarts Hassan Sunny and Daniel Bennett have kept their places, and are set to be part of the backbone of the new-look team together with Young Lions duo Hariss Harun and Safuwan Baharudin, and Tampines Rovers midfielder Shahdan Sulaiman.
The Lions kick off their set of friendly matches against Maldives on 7 June, before facing Indonesia on 29 June and 3 July, and Laos on 18 July. They will then play in the World Cup qualifiers on 23 and 28 July.
Squad: Lionel Lewis, Juma'at Jantan, Shi Jia Yi, Qiu Li, Hassan Sunny, Shahdan Sulaiman, Shaiful Esah, Fazrul Nawaz, Ismail Yunos, Hariss Harun, Khairul Amri, Shahril Ishak, Mustafic Fahrudin, Daniel Bennett, Aleksandar Duric, Isa Halim, Delwinder Singh, Hamqaamal Shah, Ruzaini Zainal, Sufian Anwar, Andrew Tan, Afiq Yunos, Shukor Zailan, Raihan Rahman, Safuwan Baharudin, Fazly Ayob, Khairul Nizam, Faris Ramli, Shakir Hamzah, Zulfahmin Arifin, Izwan Mahbud, Nazrul Nazari, Irwan Shah
Players dropped: Baihakki Khaizan, Noh Alam Shah, Ridhuan Muhamad, Noh Rahman, Emuejeraye Precious, Agu Cashmir, Masrezwan Masturi, Rosman Sulaiman
