Singapore tight-lipped over possible Asian Cup role

SINGAPORE, Oct 18 (Reuters) Singaporean soccer chiefs were tight-lipped today about whether the city-state would be willing to co-host next year's Asian Cup finals if Thailand failed to meet a 90-day deadline to upgrade its facilities.

John Koh, general secretary of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), said he was not willing to comment as no approach had been made by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to discuss replacing the Kingdom one of the tournament hosts.

''We have not been officially informed of any change, so we are not able to respond,'' Koh told Reuters.

AFC secretary-general Peter Velappan visited Bangkok on Monday and Tuesday to inspect its Supachalasai and Rajamangala stadiums and expressed dissatisfaction over the lack of progress in upgrading facilities and marketing the tournament.

Thailand is due to co-host the event with Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia from July 7-29.

Velappan threatened to dump Thailand on Monday and replace it with Singapore, whose stadiums he said were already up to the required standard.

But after hearing that the Kingdom's new interim Prime Minister, Surayud Chulanont, had agreed to support the tournament, the AFC granted Thailand a 90-day reprieve.

Thailand's government was toppled in a military coup on September 19, which followed months of political stalemate that left the country without a parliament and a caretaker administration unable to make budgetary decisions.

A FAS official, who asked not to be named, said Singapore had already stated that it could host the tournament, and if an approach was made for it to take over as last-minute hosts, it would consider the request.

The FAS would need to know soon, however, as its main stadium is due to be demolished next year, the official added.

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