AFC U22s Football Qualifiers: Singapore succumb 3-1 to Japan

 
Pekanbaru, Indonesia, Saturday, July 7, 2012 — The Singapore National Under-22 Football squad suffered their first defeat of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U22 qualifying campaign when they lost 3-1 to Japan U22 at the Riau Main Stadium. They had beaten Timor Leste 2-1 in their opening match on July 5th.

The Japanese proved too strong for the Young Lions but there were glimpses of brilliance in the 90 minutes played by the latter. Japan opened accounts early in the 14th minute when Singapore defender Delwinder Singh headed a free-kick into his own net. They then doubled their lead just five minutes later when Watari volleyed the ball home after receiving a delightful delivery from a corner kick.

The Young Lions’ first real chance of the game came in the 55th minute, when a determined Faris Ramli stole the ball from a Japanese defender, but his subsequent shot went straight to the goalkeeper Kushibiki.

The Japanese then made it 3-0 after Notsuda Gatuko headed the ball into goal beyond Singapore’s keeper, Syazwan Buhari, who despite conceding three goals was brilliant throughout the match in keeping the score respectable.

Singapore grabbed a late consolation goal through substitute Shamil Sharif, after he pounced on a rebound from an initial shot by Faris Ramli.

Singapore’s Coach Mike Wong said after the game: “I am happy with my team’s performance despite losing the match 3-1. In the first half, we sat too deep and allowed the Japanese side to come at us. We conceded two from set-pieces and one from open play. Congratulations to Japan’s U22 side.”

Al-Qaasimy Rahman, the captain of the Singapore team, said: “The Japanese side gave us a very tough match. We have played against them before and we are aware of the threats they pose to us collectively as a team. They were very strong tonight, and when we were three goals down, we tried to fight back and we got a goal through Shamil. I am pleased with the boys’ attitude, as we fought on till the very last minute.”

Final Score
Japan U22 3 Singapore U22 1

Singapore U22 Lineup
Syazwan Buhari, Al-Qaasimy Rahman, Delwinder Singh (Shamil Sharif 69′), Ali Hudzaifi, Madhu Mohana, Sufianto Salleh (Ahmad Suhaimi 42′, Amy Recha 79′), Safirul Sulaiman, Faris Ramli, Aqhari Abdullah, Sheikh Abdul Hadi, Raihan Rahman.

Japanese U22 Line-up
Kushibiki, Kawaguchi Naoki, K. Kushibiki, Iwanami Takuya, Yamanaka, Notsuda Gakuto (Akino Hiroki 76′), Watari, Hirota (Suzuki Ryuga 82′), Hashimoto (Kinoshita 44′), Arano, Matsumoto.