United Arab Emirates, Saturday, March 19, 2011 — Singapore went down 0-2 to Yemen in the first leg of their Asian Olympic qualifier.

Singapore conceded two goals either side of half-time to strikes by Aiman Salleh and Mohammed Al Khadher of Yemen. Both ‘home’ and ‘away’ games are being played in the UAE because of political trouble in Yemen.

Hariss Harun had the best chance for Singapore in the first half but he did not manage to hit the target and test the Yemen goalkeeper.

Singapore substitute Faris Ramli had a chance in the 61st minute but could only head straight into the keeper.

Faris had a penalty claim in the 81st minute but the Korean referee did not give it.

Hariss Harun then wasted another golden chance in the dying moments of the game but his header from a Fazli Ayob cross flashed just over the bar.

Said Singapore head coach Raddy Avramovic on www.fas.org.sg: “In some way, I expected this result because we faced a Yemeni team with many good individual players who were very motivated and they deserved to win tonight but we helped them with our careless passing.

“Those two goals came from our mistakes and they finished well. We could have scored at least one goal which would have made a big difference for second game. It will be hard but we must try.
“We have been practising to be more attacking (in traning) but Yemen pressed us hard and made it difficult to keep the ball in their half.

But I believe that there is one more game to play. Having seen them (Yemen) play, I hope our players will play more freely and creatively without making or conceding mistakes.”

Match Statistics
Yemen 2 Singapore 0
Aiman Salleh (38′), Mohammed Al Khadher (51′)

Singapore Lineup
Izwan Mahbud, Yasir Hanapi, Shakir Hamzah, Shahir Hamzah, Afiq Yunos, Nazrul Ahmad Nazari (Safirul Sulaiman 66’), Hariss Harun, Izzdin Shafiq, Navin Nigel Vanu (Zulfahmi Afirin 45’), Shahfiq Ghani (Faris Ramli 45’), Fazli Ayob