Singapore welcome Solomon Islands to the National Stadium in Kallang for an international friendly on Sunday.
The two minnow nations are separated by 24 places in the FIFA World Rankings, with Solomon Islands sitting 134th in the current standings and Singapore positioned further back in 158th place.
Match preview
Singapore extended their unbeaten run in friendlies to five matches after playing out a 2-2 draw with Papua New Guinea on Friday.
The Lions were leading on two occasions through goals from Adam Swandi and Hariss Harun, but they were pegged back twice during a frantic final five minutes of the first half, with Raymond Gunemba netting the last goal of the contest in the second minute of first-half stoppage time.
Both nations had the opportunity to snatch victory towards the end of the second half, but the spoils were eventually shared and Takayuki Nishigaya was unable to lead his Singapore side to victory in his first game at the National Stadium.
Singapore, who have only lost one of their last nine international matches over the last 10 months, are expected to play in front of a sellout 55,000 capacity on Sunday against Solomon Islands, and they will hope to end the current international break on a high with a victory ahead of the 2026 AFC World Cup qualifiers which begin in October.
After opening their account in 2023 with back-to-back 2-0 friendly wins over Vanuatu and Fiji, Solomon Islands suffered their first defeat of the year when they were beaten 4-1 away against Malaysia on Wednesday.
Nineteen-year-old Raphael Lea'i opened the scoring 11 minutes in, scoring his sixth international goal in eight appearances, but Malaysia equalised through Harimau Malaya five minutes before the break before three goals in the second half helped the hosts run away as comfortable victors.
Managed by Spanish head coach Felipe Vega-Arango, Solomon Islands conclude their Asian tour with a trip to Singapore, where they lost their only previous visit by a 4-3 scoreline in a friendly fixture in June 2019.
Solomon Islands have had no problems finding the net on their travels as they have scored in each of their last 13 international away games, netting 43 goals in the process, although 11 of those fixtures took place before the turn of the decade.
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Team News
Singapore's Zulfahmi Arifin is expected to miss out on Sunday after being forced off with an injury in the first half of Friday's draw; Hariss Harun is therefore set to deputise after coming off the bench to score last time out.
Nishigaya may decide to stick with a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Faris Ramli – who has scored 11 times for his country – set to lead the line.
As for Solomon Islands, Lea'i – who plies his trade in the Bosnian top flight with Velez Mostar – is expected to retain his place in the front three with experienced attackers Joses Nawo and Gagame Feni.
William Komasi, Molis Gagame and Marlon Tahioa could link arms in a three-man midfield, although uncapped Ben Fox will be pushing to make his first international appearance.
Singapore possible starting lineup:
Sunny; Hamzah, Najeeb, Harun, Nor; Kumar, Shahiran; Anuar, Swandi, Kweh; Ramli
Solomon Islands possible starting lineup:
Mango; Alick, Kalu, Kofana, Stanton; Komasi, Gagame; Tahioa; Lea'i, Feni, Nawo
We say: Singapore 1-1 Solomon Islands
A closely-fought contest between two evenly-matched nations is set to be played out on Sunday and with little to separate the two sides, a score draw could be on the cards.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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