Lions need goals against Guam tonight

The Singapore Under-22s have played eight times this year, and have yet to taste victory.

The Under-23s have played three times and are also winless.

The Lions played their first international of the year last Thursday against Thailand in Korat and were beaten 2-0.

It has been a sorry sequence of results, and while it is clear that the teams need to improve defensively, goals have also been hard to come by, with eight chalked up in the 12 games.

Singapore football desperately needs a huge shot of confidence, and Bernd Stange's Lions have a chance to at least bring back the smiles when they take on Guam in the team's second international friendly in five days tonight at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

National captain Shahril Ishak acknowledged that the Lions "have lacked the ability to finish clinically in the attacking third".

DOUBTFUL

Nursing a groin injury, the 31-year-old Johor Darul Ta'zim II star did not play against Thailand last week and he is 50-50 for tonight's friendly.

Speaking to The New Paper after a training session yesterday, Shahril said: "Hariss (Harun) and Safuwan (Baharudin) did very well in midfield (against Thailand). They combined well to dominate in the air and on the ground, winning second balls and passing forward.

"But somehow, we just lack that sharpness in the final third."

"We have good attackers in Khairul Amri, Sahil Suhaimi, Faris Ramli, Gabriel Quak and myself, and the understanding is there, so we are definitely capable of doing better," he added.

"We have to be sharper and finish off whatever opportunities we create, especially as chances will be limited in international matches."

Against the Thais, the Lions struggled to create clear chances, and when they did fashion the rare opportunities, the players fluffed their lines.

In 22 matches under Stange - the German oversees all the national teams - the Lions have won nine, drawn two and lost 11 matches, with their biggest scalp the 2-1 win over Syria in October, 2013.

In those matches, they have scored 31 times, but 23 of these goals were scored in nine games against teams from Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Macau and Papua New Guinea, and the Lions failed to score in six games.

But Stange is not about to press the panic button.

Declining to go into details, the 67-year-old German said: "No, I'm not concerned, I'm always optimistic we can score goals and win matches. And against Guam, we must be patient."

While most of the national players have struggled to score, Amri has been a notable exception.

The LionsXII striker, 30, has been in red-hot form under Stange, scoring 10 of Singapore's 31 goals, almost doubling his international tally to 25 goals.

He said: "After coming back from injury, I've played one full season with Tampines Rovers in 2013 and the LionsXII last year. I've scored goals for club and country and I feel good, but we haven't scored enough to win more games.

"Strikers have spells, and if people feel we haven't been scoring enough, we just have to overcome this barren spell.

"It's not only the strikers who are capable of scoring. We have defenders and midfielders who can chip in, too. 

"We want to improve from this run of four defeats in our last five games. We will not underestimate Guam... but we are the home team and we want to show our fans we are able to play good football, score goals and win matches."