Story and pictures by Lai Jun Wei.
Never in my life have I felt so much like a Singaporean. I was there at the National Stadium on 2 June when Uzbekistan decimated the Singapore football team. I stood pitch side, shooting pictures for Red Sports. A sense of patriotism overwhelmed me, to an extent I’ve not felt before. Not when I was at the Padang or Marina Bay watching the National Day Parade; not when I was standing in a military parade watching the Singapore colours fly high; not even when I was in military school, taking my oath to protect my country with my life. I remembered my aunt being moved to tears at that ceremony, but the sense of Singaporean-ism wasn’t instilled in me yet.
I came to the stadium half-heartedly, expecting to see a lacklustre crowd in a half-empty stadium. As I walked up the steps, I heard a roar. “Huh?” I wondered. What greeted me when I stepped in shocked me. A complete sea of red as Team Singapore supporters decked in red attire cheered our national footballers on. I arrived just in time to see Mustafic Fahrudin fire in a penalty for Singapore’;s second goal of the night. What I thought had already died suddenly resurged: The long lost “Kallang Roar”; sounded almost simultaneously as Singapore’s supporters leapt to their feet cheering in unison. Standing there pitch side, I felt goosebumps as the atmosphere slowly engulfed me.
As the score levelled 2-2, I held out a hope that Singapore might actually hold off the Uzbekistanis and make it through. I tried to adopt indifference and make shooting pictures the main priority. But then Vitali Denisov and Server Djerparov scored Uzbekistan’s fourth and fifth goal in a span of two minutes. The home crowd did not let down on their support, cheering the team on with all their might. It amazed me that the supporters seemed to have some form of telepathic communication among them. Whenever a drum or horn tempo sounded, the crowd would echo back in unison. As I watched our guys play, I suddenly wanted them to fight back, to make history by beating Uzbekistan and move on to the next round. The whistle for half time came shortly after that and both teams trooped back to their respective locker rooms. I finally got the opportunity to see the “Kallang Wave” upfront. Seeing it on television or even being part of it somehow didn’t feel like much. But standing down at the track watching our supporters do wave after wave around me, filled me with a sense of disbelief. Here was a nation obsessed with the EPL and Champions League, whose attendance and support at S League games I considered a joke, and yet we were able to rally together to support our Singapore team. Here in front of me was something different.
When the second half started, the Singapore crowd somehow became quieter. The ‘Lion’ that was present in the first half had somehow retreated to its cave. It took a spectacular save by Singapore goalkeeper Lionel Lewis to bring the spirit back. Being Singaporean, I might just be a sore loser and complain that the referee was biased towards our home team. The Singapore players did take down quite a few of their larger Uzbekistan opponents. The referee was not shy in dishing out free kicks as well. But what I saw at this game was a potpourri of local school sports behaviour and that of international footballers in the big major leagues. When the Uzbekistani players were tackled by the Singapore side, they would grimace in pain and lie on the field apparently badly injured. I really pitied the medical guys from Uzbekistan. Every time one of their players was brought down, they would scramble out onto the field and attend to them. The medics on scene would then carry the player off pitch. They seemed to have some sort of “magic potion” in their medical kit because their players made a miraculous recovery every time. On the other hand, the Singaporean players avoided such behaviour, just as we hardly see such instances in school sports. So irked was I that every time the Uzbekistanis fell to the ground, I found myself muttering “Eh don’t wayang lah” several times stopping just short of expletives.
After watching the match for a while and soaking in the atmosphere, I felt like a part of Singapore, one of the four million people in Team Singapore. The feeling was fantastic. All we needed to complete the picture was the RSAF CH-47 Chinook flying past with a huge Singapore flag. So absorbed was I in the game that I almost forgot that I had come to take photos. And as I composed myself and locked my camera onto Ignativ Nesterov, the Uzbekistani goalkeeper, I was not disappointed. In the 73rd minute, Qiu Li made a shot which deflected off the crossbar. But John Wilkinson was on hand to pump in the ball for Singapore’s third goal of the night. I almost leapt for joy. As time ticked away on the clock, I knew deep down that the match was lost. As the final whistle blew, my heart sank as our team went down 3-7 to the Uzbekistanis. Singapore now need to win their remaining matches and hope that Saudi Arabia draw or lose to Uzbekistan to even stand a chance to progress into the next round.
This match is one of the last games to be played at the grand old dame. It would really have been nice if we had won.
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[…] pride. I felt that I had to do justice to our Singapore team by doing a commentary making their efforts known rather than let the media condemn them. I thank all the readers who have left positive […]
and by the way.. My that “special someone” saw this post. But…. apparently she did not realise that I wrote this piece. >.<
Well guys, thanks for all your positive comments. I watched the away game on my portable telly and yeah, our guys put up a great fight in Uzbekistan. They lost 1-0 and their chances to progress on have now slimmed down by a great deal. I just hope that our fellow Singaporeans will come down to support our guys at the National Stadium on Saturday for the match against Saudi Arabia. Let the Kallang roar sound for one last time.
nice piece junwei!
you ought to go down for the singapore – malaysia clashes. they’re the best! the sense of national pride will be most heightened during those matches hahaha
Dear Jun Wei
Great photos, nice piece. It would be nice if the Grand Olde Dame continued to stay open until the end of 2009. Because I would just love to see/read how you feel when you find yourself surrounded by 60,000 fans baying for victory should Singapore make it to the final of the 2009 Asean Championships.
Nice to see that you are able to pick out the positives from the match even though the Lions lost by such a margin – unlike the letters from disgruntled fans (so-called fans, I would describe them) in the Voices page in today’s edition of TODAY (see http://www.todayonline.com/articles/257425.asp) which were so disappointingly flawed in their logic.
Keep up the good work
Yours in sport
Singapore Sports Fan
the boys tried their best but it just wasn’t our day. really nice to see such a wonderful marriage proposal. and Jun Wei, i swear the atmosphere that day wasn’t at its peak yet. haha. wait till we pack the stadium ! anyway, nice pictures there. keep up the good work man.
Honestly, I am very proud of our boys because they went down fighting to Uzbekistan. We put 3 goals past a very good team, and it could have been more had we taken our other opportunities. Unfortunately, our defence had an off day, or otherwise the scoreline would have been much closer.
I was at the match and I dare say we competed. It wasn’t as if we just defended with 10 men, and hoped for the quick counterattack to score. The score 3 – 7 does not correctly reflect how competitive the Lions were.
Only by playing with very good teams will we know where we stand and how much more we need to improve. I say lets take on the strong team’s if we hope to be there among the big boys at the World Cup. Lose, yes, but we will improve and eventually we will start to win.
[…] Singapore – Uzbekistan Avramovic: ‘I think we are not bad but…our opponent is too good.’ “Never in my life have I felt so much like a Singaporean" Singapore’s Aleksandar Duric (#9) scores in the 16th minute to cancel out Uzbekistan’s […]
its……………………………….*wink*
Ditto Jan’s comment – I also want to know. 🙂 I think I speak for Jan and Les when I say that we’ll be happy to help you unfurl any banners, when the time comes. Teeheehee……
JunWei!
I’m going to tease you! Now now now, who is “that one special person” you’ve publicly declared her existence! Tsk tsk.
I like picture 10, you have saved the best for the last! 😀
Just love the pictures of the marriage proposal, and of Chanderni and Navin. Fine photography, JW, and congratulations and blessings to the couple!
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