Singapore U-20 coach Azmir impressed with his team’s India outing

The two closed-door friendly matches against India earlier this month offered Singapore’s under-20 men’s football team a valuable test of where it stands against strong opposition.

Played at the Centre for Sports Excellence here, the games were part of preparations for the AFC U20 Asian Cup China 2027 qualifiers. India won the encounters 3-0 and 1-0.

For Singapore head coach Syed Azmir, however, the results were secondary to the lessons his players could take from the outings.

“We wanted to test the players against strong opposition, see how well they could execute our principles under pressure and assess different combinations within the team. It was also important to give the players international match exposure and develop their understanding of the intensity, discipline and decision-making required at this level,” Azmir said.

“Ultimately, the results are important, but our bigger focus was on the performance, learning from each game and making sure we leave India better prepared than when we arrived.”

Azmir was impressed by India’s performance, particularly the intensity and physicality with which the home side approached both matches.

“What impressed me most about the India under-20 side was their intensity and physicality. They were aggressive in their approach, competed very well in their duels and were able to maintain that intensity throughout both matches. They were also well organised and disciplined in the way they played,” he said.

“You could see that they have been together for some time and are preparing seriously for their AFC qualifiers. For our players, it was exactly the type of opposition we wanted. They punished our mistakes and forced us to make decisions quicker, which gave us a very good reference of the level we need to reach,” he added.