This Sunday will see the Singporean national football team play bitter rivals, and beaten finalists from two years ago, Thailand in the AFF Suzuki Cup, South East Asia’s premier international football tournament.
The match on Sunday will also be the first competitive game to be held at the shiny, new National Stadium. Can Singapore’s Lions vanquish the impressive Thai War Elephants, will the much criticised National Stadium pitch be good enough after being heavily criticised for not being good enough, and just how many fans will actually turn up to watch the game inside the vast 55,000 seater arena.
Only time will tell, but you can expect the Thailand team to be a tough opponent, sure to be backed up by a vociferous support so it should make for a cracking atmosphere. This game marks the start of two weeks of soccer action, as Singapore are co-hosts of the tournament (along with Vietnam) and will be hosting all the Group B matches.
The Lions will be playing all their matches at the National Stadium on 23, 26 Nov and 29 Nov, while the remaining fixtures, featuring Thailand, Malaysia and Myanmar will be held at Jalan Besar Stadium. If Singapore make it through they will then face one of the top teams in a two-legged home and away format with the final due to be played over two legs on the 17 and 20 Dec.
