Fandi siblings miss out as Singapore U-23 football squad for SEA Games announced

Siblings Ikhsan and Irfan Fandi won’t travel to Vietnam for the SEA Games next month after they were not named in the Singapore Under-23 football squad. 

The Football Association of Singapore announced on Saturday (Apr 30) that both Ikhsan and Irfan will not be released by their club, Thailand’s BG Pathum United, as the SEA Games fall outside of the FIFA window. 

Syabil Hisham, Hami Syahin, Danish Qayyum, Riki Kimura, Rezza Rezky and Jacob Mahler are the other names to be cut from the provisional list. The latter was not named in the squad after injuring his knee in a Singapore Premier League match against Tampines on Apr 20. 

Syahrul Sazali, Zulfahmi Arifin and Zaiful Nizam, who will captain the squad, are the three overaged players selected by coach Nazri Nasri. Syahrul, who was not named in the provisional squad, was drafted into the squad to provide cover in defence following Jacob’s injury. 

Zaiful, who plays for Geylang International and has three senior national team appearances to his name, will take part in his first SEA Games. Thirteen other U23 players, including Zikos Chua, Ryaan Sanizal and Nur Adam Abdullah, are also participating in the SEA Games for the first time. 

The Singapore team will travel to Nam Dinh on May 4. They kick off their SEA Games campaign against Laos three days later, before taking on Thailand Cambodia and Malaysia in the rest of the group stage matches. 

All of Singapore’s matches will be streamed live on Mediacorp’s meWATCH platform, said the FAS. 

The full squad list is as follows: 

Goalkeepers: Ridwhan Fikri (Young Lions), Zaiful Nizam (Geylang International)

Defenders: Harith Kanadi (Young Lions), Irfan Najeeb (Tampines Rovers), Jordan Emaviwe (Young Lions), Nur Adam Abdullah (Lion City Sailors), Ryaan Sanizal (Tampines Rovers), Ryhan Stewart (Young Lions), Syahrul Sazali (Young Lions) 

Midfielders: Arshad Shamim (Young Lions), Harhys Stewart (Young Lions), Jared Gallagher (Young Lions), Joel Chew (Young Lions), Saifullah Akbar (Lion City Sailors), Shah Shahiran (Young Lions), Zulfahmi Arifin (Hougang United)

Forwards: Glenn Kweh (Young Lions), Khairin Nadim (Young Lions), Nicky Melvin Singh (Albirex Niigata), Zikos Chua (Young Lions)