THE last time Singapore played Lebanon at the National Stadium was in a World Cup qualifier 11 years ago.

In that 1-2 loss, a nippy 17-year-old striker made a substitute appearance.

That player, Indra Sahdan Daud, is the only one from that 1997 team still wearing the national colours.

Tonight, he will lead them to face Lebanon again - in a World Cup third-round qualifier.

Only this time, it is a whole new challenge for the Lions, who have never progressed this far in the Asian qualifying route.

Perhaps it is fitting that, as this new chapter in Singapore football unfolds, a new skipper is leading the team out for glory.

my paper caught up with the 28-year-old for a pre-match interview.

How are the Lions gearing up for the Lebanon game?

The team are looking forward to thematch. We have been preparing and the mood is good.

People will have very high expectations of us, as we have performed well in previous tournaments.

But I think the players are up for it. All of us are experienced internationals who have gone through many tough battles.

Hopefully, things will turn out well.

There is now so much foreign talent in the national team. Is it hard get all the players on the same page?

They have always been united. I mean, we never look at Farra (Mustafiq Fahrudin) as a Serb, or (Aleksandar) Duric as an Aussie.

We have always been playing together, or we've met one another, in the S-League. So we are familiar with one another.

We've always joked among ourselves, there are no problems with their previous nationalities.

I mean, at the end of the day, they are all Singaporeans now, aren't they?

How is your relationship with coach Raddy Avramovic?

Well it's basically supporting his ideas. Whatever Raddy says, I try to explain to my teammates who are less familiar with his ideas.

It's more like I'm the Malay translator for some of the younger players.

I've worked with Raddy since he arrived here, so he knows me. I'm not too hard to handle, I've never gone against him.

Has it been tough to be given the captain's job so unexpectedly, with Aide's sudden resignation?

Being captain of the team is not really that hard. The boys have been good, and they listen to instructions.

I've learned from Aide that, once in a while, the captain must sit down and talk with Raddy, understand what his ideas are and what he wants from the boys.

I've been following his advice, and it's been okay.

Do you try to do things differently from Aide?

I've never really thought about working around what Aide did, I'm actually working with what he did.

The boys have accepted me quite well. I don't see a need to change myself.

How have you tried to be the leader of the squad?

Communicating with all the players is of course vital.

I also try to lead during training. I have to put in the extra effort, so that people can see: If the captain is working hard, then everyone should also be working hard.

That's all I'm trying to do - lead by example.