Play with pride, Leonard Thomas tells Lions

Most footballers are desperate to play for their country.

A national footballer's worth goes up, his contract becomes more expensive, he can afford a more glamorous home and a flashier car, he will attract lucrative sponsorship deals and grow his bank account even further.

There is also pride.

Guam's footballers displayed that pride when they put up a mighty fight in Tuesday night's clash with the Lions at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

Their celebration after the second goal was inspiring as the whole bench emptied to join the players on the sideline to sing and dance.

I would have liked to see Bernd Stange's team show off similar excitement.

Singapore's football results have been poor over the last few months. The Lions faltered in the opening group stage of their defence of the AFF Suzuki Cup on home soil last November.

And the national teams from the Under-22s to the U-23s and the Lions have yet to chalk up a win in 2015.

WORRYING STATISTIC

That's a total of 13 matches, it is a worrying statistic that Stange and his coaches at the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) must address.

The pressure has suddenly increased on Aide Iskandar's U-23 team that will represent the country at the South-east Asia (SEA) Games here in June.

They have to at least get out of the group stage and make the semi-finals and, crucially, they have to play well to restore confidence among the fans and prove that the decision-makers at the FAS are on the correct track.

Stange's Lions will play the second round of the World Cup qualifiers in June, they will find out who the opponents will be in the draw later this month and a resolute performance in the group must be what is required, to make up for the string of poor results suffered recently.

Both Aide's boys and Stange's men need to breathe fire when they take to the field in their respective assignments, if they are to succeed.

They must know the jersey is hallowed cloth, it should bring out hunger, courage and a sense of urgency to form a potent mix which Singapore fans will find irresistible, generating louder and louder support.

What must be cut out is the slow walk Zulfahmi Arifin takes to execute a free-kick or a corner, even when the Lions were chasing the game against Guam.

Captain Shahril Ishak was also guilty of it, indeed, there was a lack of urgency among a number of Stange's players on Tuesday that I found alarming.

Under pressure, desperately needing a win to stem a poor run of results, one would have expected to see a hungry group of Singapore players, instead there were lazy passes going astray and, even at 2-2, there was hardly an eagerness to push for the win.

TACTICAL DECISIONS

Stange must explain why he continues to play our most naturally talented striker, 22-year-old Sahil Suhaimi, down the wings.

The German coach must make a decision on whether to restore Safuwan Baharudin at the heart of the defence, alongside Baihakki Khaizan, and renew what was once regarded as the best centre-back pairing in the region, for what will be a formidable test in the second round of World Cup qualifiers.

Or stick with the Melbourne City player operating alongside Hariss Harun in midfield.

The coach's insistence to play a pass-and-move style is apparently agreeable among the players and the goal to make it part of the Singapore football syllabus is a laudable one.

It also means the appointment of the new technical director and coach's instructor must be of the greatest urgency and the FAS has to hasten the process.

These two men will be the ones most responsible for ensuring subsequent generations of Singapore footballers have the basics right and play the proper style.

Of course, this is a results business and producing a rousing performance at the SEA Games is a must-do, even if the gold medal continues to be an elusive target.

And if the second-round draw throws up a couple of favourable opponents, then some good results in the World Cup qualifiers must be Stange's target.

There are talented players in the two teams but, for it to happen, these footballers must know what it means to wear the Singapore jersey.