NAYPYIDAW — Following their 1-0 semi-final loss to Thailand in the 27th South-east Asian (SEA) Games football competition, the Singapore Under-23 boys who did not play in Thursday’s match at Zeyarthiri Stadium took a morning practice session at the Lewe training field.

Several may fancy their chances of being named in the starting XI for the bronze-medal match tonight against Malaysia, with coach Aide Iskandar open to the possibility of blooding the bench-warmers, although he insists the final line-up is still under consideration.

According to him, it was still important for the Young Lions to return home with a medal and playing Malaysia will give the players extra motivation. Only five days ago, the two sides fought out a 1-1 draw in their Group A match. And both teams will need to shrug off the disappointment of losing their semi-finals to contest for the minor prize.

Said Aide: “The players don’t want to have travelled all the way here to go home empty-handed.

“They are still feeling a bit down from losing to Thailand, but they will need to shrug that off and start feeling the hunger again for a medal.”

Ong Kim Swee’s Harimau Muda will arguably be more fatigued, as this game will be their fifth match in eight days — it showed in their lethargic loss on Thursday to Indonesia on penalties.

As Ong told TODAY: “Singapore have the advantage because we have just finished a mentally-sapping game against Indonesia that went into extra time and penalties ... It’s a question of who is hungrier for the bronze, but I will remind my team that pride is at stake.”

Apart from minor knocks, Aide should be able to field his strongest line-up against Malaysia, although striker Shahfiq Ghani’s place could be under threat. The 21-year-old has had a dismal campaign, failing to reproduce his Malaysian Super League form when he scored six goals for the LionsXII. That could mean a second start in Myanmar for 20-year-old Iqbal Hussain, or a reshuffle in the line-up to give the Young Lions more bite up front.

While Aide conceded that Shahfiq has not shown up at this tournament, he refused to confirm the forward’s selection for the bronze-medal tie. “I don’t want to give the game away as I’m sure Ong Kim Swee would also want to win this one,” he said.

Beating Malaysia tonight will mean a repeat of the bronze-medal win from the 2009 Games. The Young Lions failed to advance from the group stage at the 2011 Games. PHILIP GOH, WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY DAN GUEN CHIN

The match will be shown live today on Ch5 and Toggle Live at 5.25pm