By Les Tan
Noh Alam Shah keeps the ball under control despite pressure from Lynn Tun Zaw (Myanmar, #14). Alam Shah scored the first goal in the 1st minute. (Photo 1 © Antony Sutton/Asia Football Pictures)
Gelora Bang Karno Stadium, Jakarta, Sunday, December 7, 2008 – Singapore beat Myanmar 3-1 this evening with a controversial third goal by Agu Casmir leading to a red card for Myanmar goalkeeper Aung Oo Aung. The win ensure that they would progress into the semi-final stage of the ASEAN Football Championship (AFF Suzuki Cup).
A 1st minute headed goal by Noh Alam Shah set up by a John Wilkinson cross gave them a great start to the game and when Agu Casmir scored the second with a well-taken volley in the 15th minute from the edge of the box from a Shi Jiayi corner, Singapore hopes went up even more for a big victory.
But the Myanmar team came back with a well-worked goal that exposed the lack of speed and concentration in the Singapore defence with Noh Rahman allowing Myo to get away from him to run clear at goal. Baihakki Khaizan tried to chase back but he never had a real chance of catching Myo and the Myanmar striker finished off his run with a well-placed strike against an exposed Lionel Lewis in a one-on-one situation.
A well-struck John Wilkinson shot after a nice layoff by Agu Casmir almost gave Singapore their third goal but the Myanmar keeper Aung saved brilliantly to keep his team in the game.
Trailing 1-2 at the start of the second half, Myanmar took the game to Singapore in a torrid first ten minutes that saw Singapore struggle to keep possession. Myanmar had to win to remain alive in the competition, having lost their first game 0-3 to Indonesia, and so attacked with intent.
However, they could not translate their possession into any meaningful threat on goal and Lionel Lewis did not have a save to make.
Having survived the Myanmar pressure, Singapore came back into their own and Agu Casmir had an excellent chance to score a third goal but his volley was too high.
As time went on, neither team made any serious threat to their opponents goal although Myanmar always seemed to have more of a threat with their speed against a slower Singapore defence, with Noh Rahman exposed on a few occasions, resulting in a yellow card for a shirt-tugging incident when he couldn’t keep up with the Myanmar attacker.
Then came the moment of madness that can sometimes blight the ASEAN Football Championship. Shi Jiayi went down under a strong challenge and stayed down. Noh Alam Shah took the free kick quickly to catch the Myanmar defence unprepared, his pass finding John Wilkinson one-on-one with the keeper Aung.
While Aung managed to keep out Wilkinson’s first effort, he couldn’t prevent Wilkinson from getting to the ball again and squaring it across to Agu who had the simplest of tap-ins into an unguarded goal.
Keeper Aung was furious and rushed the Vietnamese referee Phung Ding Dung, shoving him in the process while the rest of his teammates surrounded the referee to protest against his decision to allow the quick free kick. Baihakki Khaizan tried to step in to cool the Myanmar team down but Daniel Bennett sensibly drew him away to avoid inflaming the situation.
The Myanmar team looked like they would stage a walkout, a reminder of how Thailand too threatened to walk out after they disagreed with a penalty awarded to Singapore in the final of the last ASEAN Football Championship.
Play finally resumed after the Myanmar team were persuaded to come back onto the pitch by officials but they had lost their momentum already and did not pose any threat to a Singapore team that sensibly played out time to secure their second win of Group A.
Singapore will now face Indonesia next Tuesday in a game that will decide who tops the group.
Agu Casmir (Singapore, #11) tries a backflick despite pressure from his opponents. He scored two goals to bring his tally to 4 for the championship. He is now joint-top scorer with Budi Sudarsono of Indonesia. (Photo 2 © Antony Sutton/Asia Football Pictures)
Lionel Lewis (Singapore #18) mops up a Myanmar attack. Lionel was left exposed by his defence and let in his first goal of the championship. (Photo 3 © Antony Sutton/Asia Football Pictures)
REDpoll
You only have 1 vote.
Who was the man of the match for Singapore against Myanmar?
- Agu Casmir (56%, 54 Votes)
- Noh Alam Shah (14%, 14 Votes)
- Mustafic Fahrudin (9%, 9 Votes)
- Shi Jiayi (6%, 6 Votes)
- Baihakki Khaizan (5%, 5 Votes)
- John Wilkinson (4%, 4 Votes)
- Daniel Bennett (3%, 3 Votes)
- Noh Rahman (1%, 1 Votes)
- Lionel Lewis (1%, 1 Votes)
- Precious Emuejeraye (0%, 0 Votes)
- Muhd Ridhuan (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 97
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You only have 1 vote.
Who was the man of the match for Singapore against Cambodia?
- Agu Casmir (56%, 48 Votes)
- Mustafic Fahrudin (13%, 11 Votes)
- Noh Alam Shah (8%, 7 Votes)
- Shi Jiayi (6%, 5 Votes)
- Aleksandar Duric (5%, 4 Votes)
- Indra Sahdan (5%, 4 Votes)
- Lionel Lewis (2%, 2 Votes)
- Muhd Ridhuan (1%, 1 Votes)
- John Willkinson (1%, 1 Votes)
- Daniel Bennett (1%, 1 Votes)
- Noh Rahman (1%, 1 Votes)
- Baihakki Khaizan (1%, 1 Votes)
- Precious Emuejeraye (0%, 0 Votes)
- Shahril Ishak (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 86
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You only have 1 vote.
Who should captain Singapore in the 2008 AFF Suzuki Cup?
- Indra Sahdan Daud (26%, 102 Votes)
- Lionel Lewis (20%, 78 Votes)
- Mustafic Fahrudin (19%, 73 Votes)
- Daniel Bennett (8%, 33 Votes)
- Aleksandar Duric (8%, 32 Votes)
- Baihakki Khaizan (4%, 16 Votes)
- Shi Jiayi (4%, 16 Votes)
- Agu Casmir (4%, 14 Votes)
- Noh Rahman (3%, 10 Votes)
- John Wilkinson (2%, 9 Votes)
- Precious Emuejeraye (1%, 5 Votes)
- Muhd Ridhuan (1%, 3 Votes)
Total Voters: 391
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You have 11 votes and you have to use them all at one go.
Who should be in the first XI for the national football team?
- Daniel Bennett (DF, SAFFC) (9%, 241 Votes)
- Shi Jiayi (MF, Home United) (8%, 225 Votes)
- John Wilkinson (MF, SAFFC) (8%, 218 Votes)
- Lionel Lewis (GK, Home United) (7%, 207 Votes)
- Mustafic Fahrudin (MF, Tampines Rovers) (7%, 206 Votes)
- Noh Alam Shah (FW, Tampines Rovers) (7%, 200 Votes)
- Baihakki Khaizan (DF, Geylang United) (7%, 194 Votes)
- Aleksandar Duric (FW, SAFFC) (6%, 180 Votes)
- Indra Sahdan Daud (FW, Home United) (6%, 165 Votes)
- Precious Emuejeraye (DF, Gombak United) (6%, 156 Votes)
- Noh Rahman (DF, Geylang United) (5%, 146 Votes)
- Shahril Ishak (MF, Home United) (5%, 138 Votes)
- Agu Casmir (FW, Gombak United) (5%, 128 Votes)
- Muhammad Ridhuan (MF, Tampines Rovers) (4%, 107 Votes)
- Shaiful Esah (DF, SAFFC) (3%, 70 Votes)
- Hassan Sunny (GK, Tampines Rovers) (2%, 67 Votes)
- Isa Halim (MF, Young Lions) (2%, 56 Votes)
- Juma'at Jantan (DF, Home United) (1%, 33 Votes)
- Ismail Yunos (DF, Young Lions) (1%, 29 Votes)
- Mustaqim Manzur (FW, SAFFC) (1%, 18 Votes)
- Rosman Sulaiman (DF, Home United) (0%, 11 Votes)
- Hyrulnizam Juma'at (GK, Young Lions) (0%, 3 Votes)
Total Voters: 327
Loading ...Player Statistics
LIONEL LEWIS
Age: 26 (16/12/82) Position: Goalkeeper Club: Home United Caps: 60 Jersey #: 18 (Photo © Les Tan/Red Sports file photo)
HASSAN SUNNY
Age: 24 (2/4/84) Position: Goalkeeper Club: Tampines Rovers Caps: 17 Jersey #: 1(Photo © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports file photo)
HYRULNIZAM JUMA’AT
Age: 20 (14/11/86) Position: Goalkeeper Club: Young Lions Caps: 0 Jersey #: 30(Photo © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports file photo)
DANIEL BENNETT
Age: 30 (7/1/78) Position: Defender Club: SAFFC Caps: 78 Jersey #: 16(Photo © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports file photo)
BAIHAKKI KHAIZAN
Age: 24 (31/1/84) Position: Defender Club: Geylang United Caps: 62 Goals: 1 Jersey #: 3 (Photo © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports file photo)
NOH RAHMAN
Age: 28 (2/8/80) Position: Midfielder Club: Geylang United Caps: 60 Goals: 0 Jersey #: 5 (Photo © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports file photo)
PRECIOUS EMUEJERAYE
Age: 27 (21/3/83) Position: Defender Club: Gombak United Caps: 41 Goals: 0 Jersey #: 6 (Photo © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports file photo)
ISMAIL YUNOS
Age: 22 (24/10/86) Position: Defender Club: Young Lions Caps: 9 Goals: 0 Jersey #: 19 (Photo © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports file photo)
JUMA’AT JANTAN
Age: 28 (23/2/84) Position: Defender Club: Home United Caps: 8 Goals: 0 Jersey #: 23 (Photo © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports file photo)
ROSMAN SULAIMAN
Age: 26 (6/11/82) Position: Defender Club: Home United Caps: 0 Goals: 0 Jersey #: 26
SHAIFUL ESAH
Age: 22 (12/5/86) Position: Defender Club: SAFFC Caps: 0 Goals: 0 Jersey #: 22
SHAHRIL ISHAK
Age: 28 (23/1/84) Position: Midfielder Club: Home United Caps: 64 Goals: 5 Jersey #: 17 (Photo © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports file photo)
MUHAMMAD RIDHUAN
Age: 24 (6/5/84) Position: Midfielder Club: Tampines Rovers Caps: 46 Goals: 3 Jersey #: 2 (Photo © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports file photo)
MUSTAFIC FAHRUDIN
Age: 27 (17/4/81) Position: Midfielder Club: Tampines Rovers Caps: 41 Goals: 4 Jersey #: 15 (Photo © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports file photo)
SHI JIAYI
Age: 25 (2/9/83) Position: Midfielder Club: Home United Caps: 38 Goals: 2 Jersey #: 7 (Photo © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports file photo)
ISA HALIM
Age: 22 (15/5/86) Position: Midfielder Club: Young Lions Caps: 23 Goals: 0 Jersey #: 4 (Photo © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports file photo)
JOHN WILKINSON
Age: 29 (24/8/79) Position: Midfielder Club: SAFFC Caps: 20 Goals: 4 Jersey #: 14 (Photo © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports file photo)
MUSTAQIM MANZUR
Age: 26 (28/1/82) Position: Forward Club: SAFFC Caps: 5 Goals: 0 Jersey #: 28(Photo © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports file photo)
INDRA SAHDAN DAUD
Age: 29 (5/3/79) Position: Forward Club: Home United Caps: 100 Goals: 25 Jersey #: 10 (Photo © Les Tan/Red Sports file photo)
NOH ALAM SHAH
Age: 28 (3/9/80) Position: Forward Club: Tampines Rovers Caps: 67 Goals: 30 Jersey #: 8 (Photo © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports file photo)
AGU CASMIR
Age: 28 (22/3/84) Position: Forward Club: Gombak United Caps: 26 Goals: 11 Jersey #: 11 (Photo © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports file photo)
ALEKSANDAR DURIC
Age: 38 (12/8/70) Position: Forward Club: SAFFC Caps: 15 Goals: 5 Jersey #: 9 (Photo © Les Tan/Red Sports file photo)
Television schedule for Singapore games
Indonesia vs Singapore
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
Channel 24 (live) 8.27pm
Channel 5 (delayed) 10pm
Semi-finals: December 16, 17, 20, 21
Final: December 24, 28
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