Zulqarnaen Suzliman and nine other Lion City Sailors players are in line for a reunion with Son Heung-min just months after facing the Tottenham Hotspur star in July’s Tiger Cup – this after being named in Takayuki Nishigaya’s 24-strong Singapore squad that will face South Korea and Thailand during the November FIFA international window. 

These two games will kick off Round 2 of the joint qualification process for both the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2027 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup.

Mamat, along with Singapore captain Hariss Harun, Lionel Tan, Christopher van Huizen, M. Anumanthan, Hafiz Nor, Hami Syahin, Adam Swandi, Shawal Anuar, as well as custodian Zharfan Rohaizad kept their places after being named in the squad for October’s double-header against Guam which saw the Lions prevail 3-1 on aggregate to progress to this stage. 

Apart from Son, the Sailors’ National Team representatives will also face internationally renowned South Korean stars in the likes of Bayern Munich’s Kim Min-jae, Paris Saint Germain’s Lee Kang-in and Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Hwang Hee-chan.  

They will also face Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors’ duo of Kim Jin-su and Moon Seon-min – just a week after facing the Korean pair in the AFC Champions League on Wednesday (8 November). 

Hariss and the Lions will kick off their Group C qualifying campaign against Jürgen Klinsmann’s South Korea at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on 16 November, before hosting Thailand at the National Stadium in Singapore five days later.