It's Singapore vs India friendly tomorrow night

The Indian team pose prior to an AFC Asian Cup match.

The Singapore Lions host the Indian national football team in an international friendly tomorrow night, at the Choa Chu Kang Stadium in the city state. The match kick-off is slated for 19.45 local time (17.15 IST).

Currently, both sides are way down the FIFA World Rankings, with Singapore slightly better as joint 162nd and India at 168th, so we should be looking forward to an interesting encounter, with India wanting to prove themselves after their Nehru Cup triumph.

The last time the two side met was in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. India had won the home game on February 18, 2004 through a Renedy Singh goal, while Singapore won the return fixture 2-0 on October 4, 2004.

A lot has changed over the last eight years since the last time these two sides met, but Singapore head coach Radojko Avramovic is still around after nine years in-charge of the Lions; while India is making a new start under Dutchman Wim Koevermans, who has started successfully with the Nehru Cup triumph a few weeks ago.

Even with only two days of time, Wim Koevermans is working with his team on the way he wants them to play football. It was difficult, close to impossible during the Nehru Cup, due to the rains and heavy underfoot conditions, but tomorrow against Singapore, it will be interesting to see if India play the possession football that Koevermans wants his team to play.

“We know we will have to play in front of a hostile crowd,” Gouramangi Singh opines. “People may feel it’s hard to adjust to a new defensive partner within three days in the national team. But we stay aware of the coach’s philosophy. We have played together earlier too. Adjustment is never a problem,” the most capped player in the current Indian National side adds.

Koevermans is likely to play the eleven with whom he won the Nehru Cup, though there might be a change here or there, which the coach could make just before the game.

Likely INDIA Line-Up

Subrata Pal; Nirmal Chettri, Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, Raju Eknath Gaikwad, Syed Rahim Nabi; Sanju Pradhan, Mehtab Hossain, Lenny Rodrigues, Clifford Miranda; Francis Fernandes; Sunil Chhetri