Singapore needs John Wilkinson back for ASEAN Football Championship

By Les Tan

John Wilkinson

The ball skills of John Wilkinson were sorely missed last night in the semi-final against Vietnam. (Photo © Les Tan/Red Sports file photo)

The Singapore national football team would have woken up this morning (if they slept at all) grateful that they escaped with a 0-0 draw. Vietnam pounded them black and blue last night in Hanoi and if this was a heavyweight bout, neutrals would have given the game to Vietnam on points.

However, with the score still at 0-0, it’s only half-time in this two-legged semi-final with the second leg scheduled for Sunday, 8pm, at the National Stadium. Singapore are now in prime position to qualify for the two-legged final at home.

The quality that John Wilkinson brings to the table, if taken for granted and not obvious before, was clearly missing for all to see last night. Wilkinson did not play because he sustained a calf injury in training.

In the games where Wilkinson plays, the attacking play usually works like this: Mustafic Fahrudin fetches and carries the ball from defence to Shi Jiayi in the centre or John Wilkinson on the left flank. Wilkinson and Jiayi find the forwards with accurate passes. Competent forwards, if given enough accurate passes, eventually score. Repeat for 90 minutes.

That did not happen last night.

What happened last night was this: Vietnam pour down the flanks playing neat one-twos around fullbacks Daniel Bennett and Noh Rahman. The break into space in the Singapore penalty box unmarked. They have time to aim and shoot unmolested. Lionel Lewis saves or the woodwork saves Lionel Lewis. On one occasion, Baihakki makes one good interception to save Lionel. Other times, Precious and Baihakki are nowhere close. Repeat for 90 minutes.

Said a Red Sports reader: “Actually Baihakki is not that slow. He is just not that alert. Precious is slow.”

Wilkinson is by far the best ball player in the team. He can hold, dribble and turn on a dime. After doing that, he still has the football brain to look up, find a teammate and then have the physical energy to make an accurate pass.

If all this seems simple enough to describe in a sentence, those who play often enough in the middle of the park will know that harassing opponents will not give you that time to even find your own feet, let alone a teammate 30m away.

Coach Raddy Avramovic said as much in the post-game media conference.

“John can control the midfield. He can pass the ball and support the attack. That part of our game was missing. Without that part, we couldn’t keep possession of the ball.”

And that was Vietnam’s game plan last night – harass the Singapore players to death like a mosquito swarm. No other team has done this to Singapore in the Suzuki Cup so far. Vietnam were the first to do it and it almost paid off for them.

Based on last night’s performance, it would seem only Wilkinson has the quality to play against that kind of tactic. Shi Jiayi couldn’t, Indra Sahdan couldn’t, Agu Casmir couldn’t, Muhd Ridhuan couldn’t. None of them showed the ball skills and calmness to play out of a jam.

That was the difference last night.