Lack of depth in the Singapore squad meant the downfall of the team in the ASEAN Football Championship

By Les Tan. Photos by Lai Jun Wei.

National Stadium, Sunday, December 21, 2008 – The difference between champions and semi-final losers is quite small. In Singapore’s case, it’s just two good ball players.

The lineup last night was not the first XI of coach Raddy Avramovic. He was two players short of the first XI that started the first game against Cambodia. Without first-choice striker Aleksandar Duric (fractured fibula) and midfielder John Wilkinson (calf strain), the rest of the squad scored no goals in the last two matches against Vietnam and could not do the business.

Their replacements could not conjure up the missing magic. Neither Indra nor Alam Shah could provide the incisive finish as a starting striker even though coach Raddy gave both starting chances. Both Indra and Alam Shah started two games each in the championship and had one goal each to show for their efforts.

Shahril Ishak started his first game of the championship last night against Vietnam in place of the injured Wilkinson but his output was not telling enough to make a difference to the eventual outcome.

The loss of two other strikers at the start of the championship may have made the difference. First, the muscular and powerful Chinese striker Qiu Li was ruled out because he did not fulfil a FIFA residency ruling regarding his eligibility.

Second, the S.League Young Player of the Year and striker Khairul Amri was lost to a broken metatarsal. While Khairul was not considered a starter, he would have provided another option from the bench.

By the time, the squad lost Aleksandar Duric to a fractured fibula in the first game, Singapore were starting to look like a gunslinger with no bullets.

However, as long as the midfield was still working and feeding the forward line, Agu Casmir, Alam Shah and Indra could still put themselves about and score. Agu scored two in the game against Myanmar, Alam Shah scored one against Myanmar and Indra hit his first in 18 months against Cambodia.

In the game against Indonesia which Singapore won 2-0, the strikers didn’t score but defender Baihakki Khaizan and midfielder Shi Jiayi did from set pieces.

But the loss of John Wilkinson for the first leg semi-final against Vietnam in Hanoi last week was the proverbial last straw.

The last attacking threat in the Singapore team completely disappeared and it is no surprise the team hasn’t scored since Wilkinson was injured.

Bereft of Wilkinson, coach Raddy had to put in Isa Halim to partner Mustafic Fahrudin in the middle of the park to protect the vulnerable and slow back four, especially Precious Emuejeraye.

Against Vietnam in Hanoi, the team created nothing of note and spent 90 minutes getting torn to shreds and it was a wonder the Vietnamese didn’t score.

Back in Singapore last night for the second semi-final, coach Raddy Avramovic put Shahril Ishak in the left midfield slot in place of Wilkinson and though Shahril played some pretty dribbling football, he could only come up with one cross the whole time he was on the pitch for the strikers from the wing.

Upfront, coach Raddy deployed a physical Alam Shah and the team employed a more long ball approach to allow Alam Shah and Agu Casmir to use their physical assets.

Alam Shah had five shots at goal but only one on target. Agu Casmir had only one header on target that was cleared off the line.

It was no surprise then when Agu was taken off and replaced by Indra.

However, Indra also did not manage much, with one weak shot on target and another volley off target. He had a header blocked as well.

In the end, it was Mustafic Fahrudin who turned in the most productive performance but offensively and defensively, with three headers that went close and two defensive headers. He found Ridhuan with a good cross which was headed across the face of goal but Alam Shah just missed connecting to score.

Shahril Ishak, Indra, Ismail Yunos, Shaiful Esah came off the bench because the coach needed more options on the pitch, but last night, against a Vietnam team who only had one shot on goal in the entire 90 minutes and scored from it, they didn’t have it in them.

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Selected individual player statistics

Shahril Ishak:
– 1 complete pass
– Got ball stuck in his feet after receiving it in a dangerous forward position and the attacking chance soon disappeared
– 1 cross
– 1 complete pass to Indra after breaking down left flank but Indra couldn’t do anything with it

Alam Shah:
– 1 shot deflected out
– 1 shot just over the bar after being set up by Jiayi
– 1 weak shot directly at keeper
– 1 shot over the bar
– Cross from Ridhuan just a little behind him and he could not connect
– Could not reach another Ridhuan cross
– 1 shot off target

Indra:
– 1 off-target shot
– 1 weak shot on target, fed by Shahril
– 1 headed attempt blocked

Agu Casmir:
– set up Alam Shah for deflected shot
– 1 header cleared off the line from Jiayi corner

Mustafic Fahrudin:
– 1 missed header from corner
– 1 defensive header from corner
– 1 good cross for Ridhuan to head back across goal
– 1 missed header from corner
– 1 defensive header from corner
– 1 on-target header saved by Vietnamese keeper

Shi Jiayi:
– 1 cross
– 1 assist setting up Noh Alam Shah for a shot that went over the bar
– 1 shot on target
– 1 missed shot

Precious:
– 1 mistake on the ball. He was too slow and was caught by Vietnamese striker
– did not pick up Vietnamese goalscorer rushing in

Daniel Bennett:
– 1 cross

Ridhuan:
– 4 completed crosses
– 1 defensive interception

Baihakki:
– 1 missed header
– 1 interception
– caught out in the build up to Vietnamese goal
– 1 headed assist that led to an Indra header that was blocked and a missed Shi Jiayi shot

Ismail Yunos:
– 2 long throw-ins
– allowed the Vietnamese attacker to get ahead of him to cross for the eventual goal

Saiful Esah:
– 1 poor corner kick
– 1 free kick too long for anyone to connect with

Team statistics

Singapore
4 shots on target
5 shots off target
9 fouls conceded
8 crosses
4 offisdes
13 corners
2 yellow cards

Vietnam
1 shot on target
4 shots off target
10 fouls conceded
0 crosses
2 offsides
5 corners
3 yellow cards

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