We’re five years behind our rivals: Fandi

Fandi Ahmad is set to make his bow as national coach against Mauritius tonight, but it was the other hat he wears, head coach of youth, that came to the fore at the pre-match press conference at Oasia Hotel Novena yesterday.

Fandi was as candid about the problems with Singapore's youth development pipeline as he was unwavering in his commitment to scouting and fast-tracking the development of talented young players.

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"We have quite a number of youngsters, we hope to give them a chance tomorrow," said Fandi ahead of the international friendly at Bishan Stadium.

"We failed badly. We don't have many youngsters coming through to replace the likes of (Noh) Alam Shah, Indra (Sahdan) or (Khairul) Amri - who has been playing forever now.

"He's 33, Shahril (Ishak) is 34. If we had (youngsters), we would have replaced them. That's why we still need them around.

"But that's why we brought in some youngsters like Jacob (Mahler). Seven or eight months ago, he was playing for the Under-18s.

"I've been watching him for two years, so I took him to Bandar Seri Begawan for the Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy (in April). He performed very well.

"This shows that we have talent, it's just that we haven't really scouted them.

"So if we don't fast-track their development, they play only in the COE (Centre of Excellence) League, this is where we are going wrong.

"We need to push them and give them more opportunities to play with the bigger boys, because we need to improve...

"As coaches, we need to develop and scout as many (young) players as we can. This is very important."

In addition to 18-year-old Mahler, Fandi's squad for Mauritius today and Fiji next Tuesday also features his sons Irfan (21) and Ikhsan (19), the Suzliman brothers Zulqarnaen (20) and Zulfadhmi (22) and Hami Syahin (19).

The Lions coach has a track record for bringing through young players during his stints with SAFFC and LionsXII.

His previous spell in charge of the Young Lions saw them finish third in the league twice - a finish they haven't matched since.

When asked what are the changes he has noticed since Fandi took over the Lions' reins in May, national defender Shakir Hamzah, 25, said: "In terms of changes, you can see coach Fandi is pushing all the youngsters to give them a chance to play in the national team.

"It's a good thing because you can't just depend on the experienced players.

"That's what I see in coach Fandi, he believes in his youngsters... It makes for healthy (competition)."

The competition in the region has also been heating up ahead of November's Asean Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup, with the Lions' South-east Asian rivals posting some impressive results.

This year, Vietnam's Under-23s finished second at the Asian Football Confederation U-23 Championship and reached the semi-finals of the Asian Games, where they lost to eventual champions South Korea.

Malaysia's U-23s upset South Korea in the group stage of the same tournament before narrowly losing to finalists Japan in the knockout stage.

Hosts Indonesia also made it past the group stage before being edged out on penalties by the United Arab Emirates.

Myanmar just missed out on the Round of 16 despite upsetting Asian giants Iran and drawing with North Korea.

Five-time AFF Suzuki Cup champions Thailand didn't fare well at the Games, but reached the final group stage of Asian qualifying for June's World Cup.

With the Lions last winning a competitive match in October 2015, Fandi candidly admitted that Singapore had to "wake up" after falling half a decade behind their regional rivals.

He said: "I'm not surprised, we must say outright that we have been left behind for the past five years.

"If you watch the games, the Malaysian youth teams played very well in the AFC Under-23 Championship and the Asian Games.

"All the teams around us, we used to be like that 10-15 years ago, but now we've slumped.

"But we have to wake up because we have a new set of players, youngsters pushing the experienced players...

"The only way is to play good football.

"Win, lose or draw, I'll be responsible, but the important thing is we want to show we can play good football.

"When you play good football, the results will come."

Good football is synonymous with the Fandi name, as evident when Mauritius coach Francisco Filho embraced the 56-year-old and called him the Michel Platini of Asia after his press conference yesterday.

High praise from a coach who worked under Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United and cut his teeth at France's famed Clairefontaine talent factory.

• Tickets for tonight's match are available from fas.org.sg/tickets and at Bishan Stadium. Three-match bundles for tonight's game, Tuesday's clash against Fiji and next month's friendly against Mongolia are also on sale.