Story by Les Tan. Photos by Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports.
National Stadium, Saturday, June 14, 2008 – Whatever faint hopes the 22,500 fans had tonight disappeared into the dark night at Kallang when Singapore went down 0-2 to Saudi Arabia in a Round 3 World Cup Qualifier.
Left clutching at mathematical straws after losing to Uzbekistan 0-1 and 3-7 in their last two games, Singapore needed to win all their remaining matches to stand any hope of qualifying for the next round. When Khairul Amri (#12) found himself one-on-one inside a minute against the Saudi keeper from an Aleksandar Duric (#9) flick-on header, the whole stadium thought a dream start was at hand.
However, Amri miscued the shot, and his weak attempt saw Saudi goalie Waleed Ali (#1) dive to his left to palm the shot away for a corner. It was a costly miss and the closest the Lions would come to scoring in the first half.
The Singapore tactic seemed clear – get the ball to Amri on the left to exploit his pace. Amri, however, seemed unable to distribute the ball to any great effect whenever he was in dangerous positions near the Saudi penalty box. As a result, both Aleksandar Duric (#9) and Indra Sahdan Daud (#10) saw little in the way of clear striking chances at goal in the first half.
The Singapore defence were a much tighter unit after their last appearance at the National Stadium saw them let in seven goals against Uzbekistan. However, their defensive wall was eventually breached by Abdoh Autef (#15) of Saudi Arabia in a nice flowing move involving four Saudi players in the 37th minute.
The second half saw Qiu Li (#11) coming on for Amri and he provided a moment of hope for the fans. Showing impressive ball control and upper body strength, he held off two Saudi players as he cut in from the right flank towards the penalty box. His screamer of a shot just missed the target, eliciting groans from fans.
Qiu Li turned provider in Singapore’s only other close attempt. His accurate cross from the right found Mohammad Shahril Ishak (#17) in space but the latter contrived to balloon it over the bar. This was the second missed chance of the night for Shahril, having failed to connect on an excellent cross by substitute Ismail Yunos (#13) earlier in the half.
At the other end, Hassan Sunny was kept busy, denying the Saudis on at least three clear occasions with tidy saves after their neat passing game had unlocked the Singapore defence. The Saudis eventually scored in the 76th minute through substitute Ahmed Al Fraidi (#17) from a pass by Ahmed Ateef (#18) who was given too much time and space to roam at the top of the Singapore penalty box.
As the three minutes of time-added on wound down, Indra went down with tightness in his hamstring. With his teammates unable to create chances for him throughout the night, Indra had to track back throughout the game to get the ball. Similarly, strike partner Duric saw few chances fall his way throughout the night. Whatever chances that came, fell at the feet of Amri and Shahril, but they did not score.
And so it is with football. You can’t win if you don’t score.
Match Statistics
Singapore 0
Saudi Arabia 2
Abdoh Autef 37th
Ahmed Al Fraidi 76th
SINGAPORE
Hassan Sunny (GK)
Baihakki Khaizan
Isa Halim (Ismail Yunos 63rd)
Noh Rahman
Precious Emuejeraye
Aleksandar Duric (Fazrul Nawaz 79th)
Indra Sahdan Daud (C)
Khairul Amri (11 Qiu Li 46th)
John Wilkinson
Daniel Bennett
Shahril Ishak
Subs not used: Jasper Chan (GK), Ridhuan Muhamad, Shaiful Esah, Afiq Yunos
SAUDI ARABIA
Waleed Ali (GK)
Osama Alharbi (Abdulla Al Dossary 84th)
Redha Fallatah (C)
Osama Hawsawi
Abdullah Shuhail
Malek Al Hawsawi (Omar Al Ghamdi 88th)
Mohammed Al Shalhoub (Ahmed Al Fraidi 73rd)
Saad Al Harthi
Abdoh Autef
Khaled Al Thaker
Ahmed Ateef
Subs not used:Mansour Al Najei (GK), Majed Rafa Al Amri, Fisal Bin Sultan, Saud Khariri
Cautions
Singapore: Noh Rahman 55th, Ismail Yunos 71th
Saudi Arabia: Ahmed Ateef 7th, Osama Alharbi 11th, Redha Fallatah 63rd
Attendance: 22,550
Related Articles:
"The end of a dream for one disappointed fan."
[…] Singapore’s World Cup qualification dreams finally came to an end last Saturday when it lost 0-2 to Saudi Arabia. You can read the report here. […]
I have been a lions fan all this while and am still is. Watching them end this qualifying expedetion, i am quite disappointed. Being in Melbourne now, i get my source of information through my dad, also a lions’ supporter, if not from redsports or FAS website. Its quite frustrating not able to be there at national stadium supporting them like i always do. Be it the 2 Tiger Cup triumphs or the heavy downpour loss to Norway, I was there cheering. The lions have grown tremendously through out the years and i am so proud of them. The journey may end but the dream is still on.
Well done, Lions. *salute*
Your supporter in Melbourne
Singaporeans are very realistic they never believed our team could make it this far. So what if they did they would just fall eventually thats the mentality of Singaporeans.
But i believe that our team can be proud of what they have achieved and come so far , we will beat Lebanon and put an end to a proud but ultimately ( in terms of qualification) unsuccessful tournament. We have come so far , lets go further, goal 2014 , watch out world here come the lions.
[…] stories: World Cup journey ends for Singapore as the boys go down 0-2 to Saudi Arabia in qualifier Redha Fallatah (#3, Saudi Arabia) and Aleksandar Duric (#9, Singapore) face off in a header. […]
the singapore fans ought to be ashamed of themselves.just because the national team has virtually lose all hopes of going into the next round of the world cup qualifiers,majority of the fans didnt turn up at the national stadium to support the lions.the meaning of a true fan is someone who support the team no matter what happen.if u call yourself a “fan” of the national team.y didnt u turn up at the national stadium?the match for saudi arabia against singapore is better described as being played in neutral ground,as the number of fans that turned up for both countries are almost equal.but even though the lions didnt made it to the next stage of the world cup qualifiers,they should be proud of themselves for the hardwork they put in.as i think what is lacking in the lions squad is not invidual talent or teamwork,it is that they doesnt have as much experience as the saudis and the uzbeckistanis.this lion squad is a relatively young squad so i am sure that they would make it to the world cup in 2014. train hard lions,the future is bright:)
JW, great last picture esp given it’s Father’s Day!