In my case it is very simple. It is just direction and hard work.
Can Singapore move to the next level from being a good SE Asian team to become a good Asian team?
It’s possible but it’s too early to say at the moment. To go to the next level there must be changes in many areas –from facilities to a change in the way of thinking. That’s the hardest part. The beginning of professionalism is here, in the league and clubs, and if that part improves, if the clubs improve, that will reflect on the national team as well and help us to achieve more.
Singaporeans are well-known for their love of English football. Is that a problem for the national team?
I am sometimes fed up with that! (laughs) If you look at the bars and coffee shops you can see people watching the Premier League on big screens. In some ways, it is good for the general atmosphere of football but if satta king result those people spent 50% of that effort supporting local teams or the national teams then things would be better for us.
Your opening World Cup qualification game is a tough one – away at Saudi Arabia. How will you approach that game? Will you settle for a point?
I play every game to win. If you go with the intention of drawing – that is not my way, whether it is against Saudi Arabia, England, Myanmar or Laos. Sometimes we go six months without a game so when we do have a game and we don’t go out to win that game then there is something wrong.
Is your group one of the more difficult ones?
Yes, it is a difficult group. Saudi Arabia have a lot of advantages over us. The first is the quality that they have. Second, is that they are in the middle of their season and they are in competition form. Our league has finished and we have to build towards the game. I don’t think we can be in great competition form in that short period of time but we will try our best.
Are you playing for second place with Uzbekistan and Lebanon?
It doesn’t matter if we finish first or second. Everybody has the same ambition as us and that is to go into the next round. I am watching tapes of the Saudi Arabia now and sure, they are big favourites but you have to adapt to playing against them.
Singapore striker Noh Alam Shah was banned for one year by the Singapore FA for attacking Daniel Bennett in the Singapore Cup final. He can, however, play for the national team. Will you select him when he recovers from injury?
He is a big part of this team. With him in the team we have had good results and he is a big part of the team. He is the kind of player who gives 100% every game and all last season he had the handicap of playing injured. He was taking painkillers before every game.
What happened in the cup doesn’t happen often. Nobody approves of what he did but it shouldn’t end his career. I have known him for four years and never had any problems with him.
The incident involved a national team-mate. Will there be no problem in the dressing room between them?
We need time to get together again and see if a problem exists. After the season finished, Alam Shah had an operation and if he wants to play for the national team then he needs to play football. He is banned in Singapore but I hope he will go to Malaysia and we will follow his progress.
If everything is Ok then my intention is to bring them together. Then we will see.
kbcwineers 