Lebanon will limber up for their penultimate Asian Cup qualifier with Hong Kong when they face Singapore in an international friendly in Kallang Thursday at 1:30 p.m. Beirut time. The Cedars are unbeaten in their last 11 outings and will be confident of extending that run against a side 73 places below them in the FIFA rankings at 173.
Lebanon coach Miodrag Radulovic is expected to ring the changes for Thursday’s encounter as his charges aim to return from Hong Kong Tuesday with the point required to rubberstamp their place in the Asian Cup.
They top Group B with 10 points from four matches, five points ahead of second-placed Hong Kong.
“Of course our aim is to win, and I will pick a side with a view to the game against Hong Kong,” Radulovic said.
“We hope we can seal qualification in Hong Kong since our last win against North Korea has left us in a very strong position at the top of the group,” he added.
Contrary to high-flying Lebanon, Singapore are rooted to the bottom of Group E with two points and the side face a must-win match against Bahrain Tuesday.
“The Singapore team have a chance of qualifying. It is good for the coach to try to mix his team, to try some new players, Radulovic said.
I don’t think he [Singapore coach V. Sundramoorthy] will play his full team against us but each game you can learn some good things.”
Cedars captain Hasan Maatouk, meanwhile, urged his teammates to remain grounded despite their long-standing purple patch.
“Even though we have not lost in nearly 18 months, it hasn’t always been easy,” Maatouk said.
“We have reached this level through hard work and dedication as well as great communication with the coaching staff.”
Singapore boss V. Sundramoorthy is hoping to benefit from facing opposition of Lebanon’s quality before his side host Group E leaders Bahrain in a crucial Asian Cup tie.
“Obviously, looking at this Lebanon team which they said is their golden generation, it’s a good game to test ourselves and try to make some corrections for the Bahrain game,” Sundramoorthy told ESPN FC.
“Firstly, the performance is important. If we play the same way as we started in the home games against Hong Kong and Turkmenistan where we got the [1-1] draws and the players fared above expectations, we will get good results.”
