SINGAPORE — Their dream of qualifying for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-16 Championship may be over, but the Singapore Under-15 football team have one final task to accomplish at the Jalan Besar Stadium tonight.

The young footballers will be aiming to salvage some pride in their final group match against Cambodia to avoid the wooden spoon.

And head coach V Selvaraj has called on his charges to find their “killer instinct” after a campaign that has seen the Under-15s failing to score any goals in their respective 5-0 and 3-0 losses to Thailand and North Korea earlier this week.

Singapore’s Under-15s played Cambodia at the ASEAN Football Federation U-16 Championships last month, with the match ending in a goalless draw.

“It is about the killer instinct — the Thais, Koreans and Cambodians have it,” he said yesterday. “We had some chances (to score), but they were saved. But if it was a Thai player, their key striker, he would put the ball in the corner. That killer instinct, it is lacking. But we will learn, become better, and reach that stage given these experiences.”

Singapore U-15 captain Akmal Azman is hoping to lead the team to their first victory tonight. “We want to finish this tournament on a positive note,” said the 14-year-old. “We want to attack well, and try to score.”

Richard Tardy, the Football Association of Singapore’s new head coach of youth national teams, had called for improvements to the players’ commitment, physical fitness, and technical ability after observing the U-15 and U-16 sides in action at last month’s Lion City Cup. Selvaraj agreed, adding: “The boys have the courage and a lot of desire, (but) technical ability is something we need to work on, and I agree with him. The ability to hold the ball under tight situations, receive the ball, and make passes under pressure — all these are the technical stuff that we should work on, and they are the areas we can get better with these games.”

North Korea will battle Thailand for top spot of Group H today, with the winners of each of the 11 groups, and the next four best runners-up, to qualify for the final in India next year. ADELENE WONG