BY Noah Tan Follow on TwitterFollowing their 4-2 win over Myanmar on Wednesday, the Lions are likely to need only a draw in their crucial Group B clash against arch-rivals Malaysia this Saturday to progress to the semi-finals of the tournament.
But the Republic will head into the crunch match without midfielder Shahdan Sulaiman, who fractured his leg and dislocated his ankle after accidentally clashing into Khairul Amri during the game against the Burmese.
The 26-year-old underwent a successful operation to fix the injuries on Thursday but is now expected to be sidelined for up to six months.
In his absence, Singapore's head coach Bernd Stange is expected to field LionsXII star Zulfahmi in the centre of midfield instead.
And the 23-year-old declared he, along with the rest of his team-mates, were now even more determined to win the Suzuki Cup so they could dedicate it to Shahdan.
"All of us want to win it for Shahdan," he said.
"We are still affected by the incident and our team is quite down to see him in this state because he's one of our better players.
"He's done a lot for us and was unlucky to get a bad injury. As footballers, serious injuries are one of the worst things that can happen to us. So we'll need to win for him."
Zulfahmi also revealed that the Lions would not set themselves up to defend against Harimau Malaya, despite probably needing only to play for a draw.
"I think it's better for us to go for the win," he added.
"We won't care about the other result [between Thailand and Myanmar], and we definitely will not play for a draw.
"The clash against Malaysia will be one of our most important games in the tournament as they're our rivals. We shouldn't think that way but it's only natural as the rivalry is always there.
"For us, we should just treat this game as any other game and try to play the way we did against Myanmar in the first-half."
Singapore are currently second in Group B on three points, while Malaysia and Myanmar are third and fourth respectively with one point each.
Thailand, with two wins out of two, have already secured a berth in the knockout stage of the competition and need only a point against the Burmese to guarantee top spot in the group.
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http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/zulfahmi-eyes-suzuki-cup-success-for-injured-shahdan/
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