Lions Omission Drives Farhan To Work Harder

Being dropped from the national squad would be a blow to many players, but for Hougang United's Farhan Zulkifli, it has only fuelled his determination to train even harder.

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The diminutive winger was part of Lions coach Tsutomu Ogura's Asean Championship squad last December, but was left out of the 22-man squad announced on March 14.

"It's really competitive to be in the national team. Everyone is fighting for their place, so as much as possible, I would like to feature more, but I still have a long way to go," said the 22-year-old.

"I'll continue to give my best so that I can have more minutes in the national team... it is something that pushes me to train harder."

The door is not totally closed yet as Ogura will make a final decision on his squad for the friendly against Nepal (March 21) and Asian Cup qualifier against Hong Kong (March 25) after this weekend's Singapore Cup matches, which includes Hougang's Group A match against Brunei DPMM.

Farhan has a knack for scoring goals. He found the net on his Singapore Premier League (SPL) debut in 2019, becoming the SPL's then second-youngest goalscorer at 16 years and 231 days, behind Hariss Harun (16 years 174 days).

He has since been overtaken by Hakeme Yazid (16 years 175 days) and Khairin Nadim (16 years 194 days).