NAYPYIDAW — As Malaysia were toiling for their place in the semi-finals yesterday, Singapore’s Young Lions were getting ready to have their evening meal after a light training session in the morning.

The day before had been one of total rest with Aide Iskandar’s boys able to kick back for a bit after successfully negotiating four tricky group matches.

It could be a telling factor that the Malaysians — who topped Group A after their 2-1 win over Vietnam — would need to play five matches over eight days to retain the gold medal they won for the past two SEA Games. They will meet Indonesia in tomorrow’s early match at the Zeyarthiri Stadium.

In contrast, Singapore had the luxury of a three-day rest prior to the semi-finals and will meet Thailand, who will arrive in Naypyidaw to unfamiliar surroundings, having played all their Group B matches in Yangon. Those two reasons give Aide the optimism that his boys will have a slight advantage in tomorrow’s semi-final (kick-off 7.30pm Myanmar time).

“We’ve played all our matches at Zeyarthiri and Thailand would only be getting their first look,” said Aide. “We also have a good record against them, beating them 2-0 at the last SEA Games, and our senior boys have done well too.

“But we cannot take them lightly as they play an attacking game, similar to Vietnam and Myanmar, so we have to be vigilant.”

Addressing the goals conceded in the final minutes against Laos and Malaysia, Aide said: “Those have made us realise we need to be more focused. Most importantly, we need to stop giving away free-kicks.”

Defender Faritz Hameed is fully fit though he will be hard-pressed to displace an in-form Madhu Mohana at right-back, while winger Nazrul Nazari, who flew back to Singapore last week after his father died suddenly last Thursday from a severe tuberculosis-related infection, is expected to rejoin the squad today.