Singapore will not participate in the U23 Southeast Asian tournament due to the shock of SEA Games 32

Singapore Singapore withdrew from the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 tournament to help players stabilize their mentality after a heavy defeat at the 32nd SEA Games.

In Cambodia, Singapore finished bottom of Group B after drawing with Laos and losing four games, including a 0-7 defeat to Malaysia in the final round. The team conceded 13 goals and scored only two - one from a mistake by a Thai midfielder and one from an own goal by Vietnamese midfielder Vu Tien Long.

“The players are in shock,” Bernard Tan, acting president of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), told Mothership . “They need time to calm down and regain their confidence.”

U22 Singapore (blue shirt) tied U22 Laos (red shirt) 0-0 in the group stage of SEA Games 32. Photo: FAS

Tan said that withdrawing from the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 Championship was considered due to the postponement of the competition from November to August. At the same time, he called it a "stupid move" to allow the players to continue playing after what they experienced at the SEA Games. The acting FAS president also denied that this was a decision to punish the players for failure, but purely to help them reduce pressure.

Singapore's withdrawal from the Southeast Asian U23 tournament was approved by the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) before the draw on the morning of May 29.

FAS confirmed that U23 Singapore will still attend the 19th ASIAD in China and the 2024 U23 Asian qualifiers in September.

However, the FAS’ decision not to participate in the Southeast Asian U23 tournament still received backlash from Singaporean fans. They said that Singapore could send other U23 players, or even the U20 team, to participate to gain international experience.

Singapore men's football suffered its worst edition of the Games in a decade, especially after a heavy defeat to Malaysia. Fans want acting president Bernard Tan to resign. FAS must set up a panel to review players' performances.

Bernard Tan also reviewed the feasibility of maintaining Young Lions - a club under FAS that competes in the Singapore National Championship. This team only consists of U23 players and contributes most of the players for Singapore to participate in the youth tournament.

In addition, Tan wants the domestic league to increase the number of matches for players to compete in, and at the same time, intends to restart the naturalization of players who helped Singapore win the AFF Cup four times.

Hieu Luong

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