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Sports 02/06/2008 Singapore prepare for biggest football game in years
 
The tiny city-state has never been this far in World Cup qualifying before and the Uzbeks are ranked 69 places higher by FIFA, stacking the odds firmly against Singapore.
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And they could be without key striker and captain Indra Sahdan Daud, who is struggling with injury.
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The Uzbeks lead Group 4 with six points from two games and Singapore, on three points, desperately need victory to stay in contention for the fourth and final round of qualifying.
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They have already beaten Lebanon 2-0 at home but crashed to Asian heavyweights Saudi Arabia by the same score. The Uzbeks, in contrast, breezed past the Saudis 3-0 and won 1-0 against Lebanon in Beirut.
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Saudi Arabia play Lebanon in Riyadh in Monday’s other Group 4 fixture.
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The injury to Indra Sahdan Daud is not a good omen, nor was Singapore’s 1-0 defeat to Bahrain in a friendly last week, a game in which they failed to maintain possession and handed the visitors an easy goal.
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Rauf Inileyev’s side play a European style of football and are known as an attacking side, with Maksim Shatskikh their star striker.
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Dynamo Kiev signed him as the replacement for Andriy Shevchenko when he joined AC Milan and Shatskikh has scored 28 goals in 36 games for his country.
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The Uzbeks are also naturally bigger and more physical than the Singaporeans, but coach Radojko Avramovic is not concerned.
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"The result will have nothing to do with size. Any team can field tall players," he said. "The quality of football is the most important.
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"They are not a typical Asian side and very European in their style of play although I feel we are closer to that style of play as well."
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Working in Singapore’s favour at the National Stadium is likely to be the heat and humidity that can act as an extra player against visiting teams not used to tropical weather, as well as a large partisan crowd.
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The two sides play a return leg in Tashkent on June 7, AFP reported.
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