Story by Koh Yizhe/Red Sports. Photos by Joseph Lee/Red Sports
Irfan Fandi (Singapore #17) takes the first shot of the game after breaking away from the Arsenal defenders but the shot was duly saved by Harry Girling (Arsenal #1). Irfan scored Singapore’s only goal later in the game. (Photo 1 © Joseph Lee/Red Sports)
Jalan Besar Stadium, Saturday, June 8, 2013 – The Singapore NFA Under-16s started their 2013 Canon Lion City Cup campaign on a losing note as they narrowly went down 1-2 to Arsenal Under-15s in Group A.
Irfan Fandi, son of Singapore football legend Fandi Ahmad, equalized in the 61st minute after the young Gunners had taken a first-half lead through Faiq Bolkiah. Five minutes later, however, a mistake by goalkeeper Zharfan Rohaizad allowed Harry Donovan to force the ball home and secure three points for the visitors.
Just like his father, Irfan dazzled the crowd throughout the match and he almost opened the scoring in the 10th minute when he collected the ball in the middle of the pitch and ran straight at the heart of the Arsenal defence. He danced past two defenders, but with only goalkeeper Harry Girling to beat, his shot was well saved.
Singapore would rue that miss as six minutes later, Arsenal took the lead. A cross from the left found Bolkiah unguarded at the far post after Zharfan misjudged the cross and the 15-year-old made no mistake from close range.
Arsenal took a 1-0 lead into the dressing rooms, but Singapore came out fighting in the second half and it was only a matter of time till they found the equalizer. In the 61st minute, Girling could only parry Andin Addie’s powerful header into the path of Irfan who slammed the ball home to send the crowd into raptures.
However, all the good work by the Singapore side was undone in the 66th minute when Zharfan could not control a stinging long-ranged shot and Donovan was first to scramble the loose ball home to give the visitors the 2-1 lead.
Singapore tried to reply with Andin shooting just over the bar, but Arsenal were able to absorb the pressure to hang on for the win.
The Singapore NFA Under-16s will hope to get their campaign back on track when they face Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday.
In the first match of the night, Singapore NFA Under-15s were humbled 7-0 by Brazilian club SC Corinthians Under-15.
Final Result
Singapore NFA Under-16s 1 Arsenal Under-15s 2
Scorers
Singapore U-16s
Irfan Fandi (61′) – 1 goal
Arsenal U-15s
Faiq Bolkiah (16′) – 1 goal
Harry Donovan (66′) – 1 goal
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