June 9, 2004

Singapore coach Radojko Avramovic has named Oman as the favourites for their World Cup qualifying clash but insists that the Lions have improved enough to pull off a surprise.

The Serbo-Montenegrin coach acknowledged Singapore still have a major problem in the aspect of giving easy goals away but the team has improved in that aspect. He is also not worry about star midfielder Ahmad Latiff's omission from the squad for skipping a training session as the players he has now think & move faster on and off the ball so that is more quality in all areas in the team

Oman, coached by wily Czech veteran Milan Macala, are an open book to Avramovic, the Serbo-Montenegrin having spent five years from 1993 to 1998 first with the Oman youth setup & then in charge of the national team.

8 players in the current Oman team are from the U-17 team in 1998. They have the confidence that comes with international experience, having played in the Youth U-17 and U-19 World Cup & plenty of international friendlies.

Avramovic feels Singapore are at the beginning stage compared to them, but the S-League & the Young Lions has begun to pay off for the national team & the results will show in the long term.

Oman will miss injured captain and star forward Hani Al Dhabet through injury but Avramovic has pinpointed playmaker Fawzi Bashir & striker Hashim Salih as more than capable replacements.

Avramovic said Oman play a 3-5-2 which becomes a 3-4-3 going forward & they have the edge over Singapore physically so Singapore must compensate by passing the ball on the ground more as that is the only way to deal with them.

Another factor against the Lions is the sweltering weather as players have found it hard to breathe in temperatures of over 43 degrees.

Therefore Avramovic had to plan a friendly in order for the Lions to adapt to the conditions. The game against an Oman club side ended in a 1-0 defeat.