September 7, 2004

It is learnt 1 of Singapore's defensive lynchpins S Subramani is hanging up his international boots.

The 32-year-old defender has told national coach Radojko Avramovic of his shock decision to retire from international football after the Oman match.

As a result, Subramani, who was a member of the 1998 Tiger Cup winning squad, did not start the friendly against Indonesia on Saturday, leaving Avramovic to shuffle his backline with the quartet of Aide Iskandar, Daniel Bennett, Noh Rahman & Baihakki Khaizan.

There appeared to be 2 main reasons for his decision. The first is Home United congested fixture list this year as over a 7-month period, the veteran has featured in more than 40 club matches in the S-League, Singapore Cup & AFC Cup - A figure that does not include national team commitments. The second is his desire to step aside & give the younger players in the national team the chance to play so to develop themselves further.

Avramovic has try to ask the 1998 S-League Player of the Year to reconsider his decision & remain in the national team set-up until the Tiger Cup in December but it appeared the player had rejected it.

Subramani, who has collected over 80 international caps in a career spanning almost 10 years, had come out to the main media & spoken out saying the time has come for him to step aside from the national team & give the younger boys the chance to play & he want to leave on his own accord rather than be told that he is not good enough.