SINGAPORE — Singapore national under-23 coach Aide Iskandar has thrown the gauntlet down to senior members of his squad to make their presence felt during their coming SEA Games campaign.

Despite being the hosts, Singapore are not regarded as leading favourites to win the biennial Games’ coveted men’s football gold medal.

Singapore are aiming to reach the final at the National Stadium on June 15 at least, but Aide’s 20-man squad have also yet to fully convince many sceptics, including former national players such as Steven Tan, who in a recent report by The New Paper, felt the current SEA Games squad lacked leaders and also questioned if they were hungry enough.

While he disagreed with the criticisms, Aide, 39, admitted that his senior players in captain Al-Qassimy Rahman, goalkeeper Syazwan Buhari, defender Shakir Hamzah, attacking midfielders Safirul Sulaiman and Shahfiq Ghani, must stamp their authority on the pitch.

“In the past, we had players such as Kadir (Yahaya), Fandi (Ahmad), David (Lee) and Malek (Awab) to help ensure the dressing room is always happy and cohesive,” said Aide, himself a former national captain.

“We need to pass this culture down traditionally so that we’ll always have leaders in the team. That’s the role Al-Qaasimy and the other four must play. They have to keep team spirit healthy but also take responsibility on the pitch.”

Aide was speaking at Changi Airport yesterday before the team departed for a week-long training tour of Japan. The squad, which just completed a nine-day centralised training stint at the Singapore Sports School, will be based in the town of Gotemba in Shizuoka, and will play friendly matches against Japanese Division Four club Azul-Claro Numazu on May 14 and Shizuoka Sangyo University on May 16.

Singapore are in Group A of the SEA Games football tournament — it is an under-23 competition — with Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia and the Philippines, their first opponents on June 1 at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

Aide rejected criticism that his squad lacked leaders and did not have enough hunger to want to end Singapore’s long wait for its maiden SEA Games gold medal in football.

“I respect all criticism, but I think it’s too early (to judge),” he said. “They’re still a work-in-progress, but the boys are training harder now to ensure they have a good Games and people should comment only after they see them in action.”

Singapore last reached the SEA Games final in 1989, where they lost 3-1 to hosts Malaysia. Of the 402 events at stake at next month’s SEA Games, the men’s football gold medal is possibly the most coveted. And being able to handle the pressure and expectation as hosts, along with the weight of history on them, is something Al-Qassimy acknowledged he and his team-mates must prove.

“I tell them not to put too much stress on themselves,” said the right-back. “They must take each game at a time and enjoy the experience but also not give anything less than 100 percent on the pitch. We are working harder to prove our critics wrong and I’m proud of all the commitment and professionalism they’ve shown in training thus far.”

Among those expected to feature prominently in Aide’s plans include Irfan Fandi, Faris Ramli, Adam Swandi, Christopher van Huizen and Sahil Suhaimi.

Aide, who revealed his starting line-up for the SEA Games is “80 percent” complete, said: “These last few matches, as well as the training stint in Japan, will help me decide who to start at the SEA Games.

“This trip to Japan is also to improve the team’s cohesiveness. We’d be increasing the intensity of our training sessions and as it is held overseas, there will be fewer distractions, so the players can focus completely.”

SINGAPORE SQUAD FOR JAPAN TOUR*:

Goalkeepers — Syazwan Buhari, Fasha Iskandar, Rudy Khairullah

Defenders — Shakir Hamzah, Al-Qaasimy Rahman, Sheikh Abdul Hadi, Fadli Kamis, Amirul Adli, Irfan Fandi, Taufiq Muqminin, Ho Wai Loon

Midfielders — Faris Ramli, Safirul Sulaiman, Stanely Ng, Anumanthan Mohan Kumar, Shamil Sharif, Adam Swandi, Shameer Aziq, Christopher Van Huizen, Suria Prakash, Pravin Guanasagaran

Strikers — Shahfiq Ghani, Sahil Suhaimi, Iqbal Hussain, Amy Recha Pristifana

* To be cut to final 20-man squad for SEA Games after the trip.