“I really envy Jordan for the support that they have received from their fans …” national football coach Avramovic

By Les Tan/Red Sports

Amman, Jordan, Wednesday, March 3, 2010 – The fabled 12th man played his role last night. Alas, it was not on Singapore’s behalf. The 17,000 Jordanian fans willed their team on to a 2-1 victory over Singapore and they will now reap the joy of seeing their team feature in the 2011 Asian Cup football tournament.

Jordan scored an early 9th minute goal through Odai Al Saify to go 1-0 up. Singapore levelled after the half-time break on 48 minutes through Noh Alam Shah but Bani Yaseen scored the winner at the 60th-minute mark in a game the Jordanians dominated.

Remarkably, Jordan had spent most of the qualifying campaign at the bottom of the four-team group. Singapore finished last and behind Thailand on goal difference in Group E.

The win gave Jordan second place in the group and they qualify with group winners Iran for the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar.

The Jordanian fans stood out for Singapore national coach Radojko “Raddy” Avramovic.

“The game tonight was big for both teams and both played well," Avramovic was quoted as saying on the official AFC website (www.the-afc.com). "The fans were also great and they showed great support for their national team.

“I really envy Jordan for the support that they have received from their fans and this helped them to achieve this win. They played very well and deserved the win and qualify to the finals.”

By contrast, only 6,000 fans showed up to watch the home fixture against Jordan on January 28th, 2009, at the National Stadium. Singapore won that game 2-1.

In the last home qualifying game against Iran on January 6th, 2010, only 7,000 fans turned up to support the Lions in a 1-3 loss.

The strongest support for the national football team in the Asian Cup qualifying campaign came against Thailand on November 14th, 2009, when 22,000 fans showed up to witness Singapore go down 0-1.

If Singapore had at least drawn against Jordan, they would have qualified for the Asian Cup for the first time in the nation’s history.

Match Attendance: 17,000

Singapore Lineup
Lionel Lewis (GK), Precious Emuejeraye, Baihakki Khaizan, Noh Rahman (29th min – Rosman Sulaiman), Daniel Bennett, Shi Jiayi, Qiu Li, Ridhuan (86th min – Shahril Ishak), Hariss Harun, Aleksandar Duric, Noh Alam Shah

Countries that will feature in the 2011 Asian Cup
Qatar (hosts), Iraq, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, India, North Korea, Japan, Bahrain, Australia, Kuwati, UAE, Uzbekistan, Syria, China, Iran, Jordan

Past Results

14 January 2009
Iran 6 Singapore 0

14 January 2009
Jordan 0 Thailand 0

28 January 2009
Thailand 0 Iran 0

28 January 2009
Singapore 2 Jordan 1

14 November 2009
Iran 1 Jordan 0

14 November 2009
Singapore 1 Thailand 3

18 November 2009
Thailand 0 Singapore 1

22 November 2009
Jordan 1 Iran 0

6 January 2010
Thailand 0 Jordan 0

6 January 2010
Singapore 1 Iran 3

3 March 2010
Iran 1 Thailand 0

3 March 2010
Jordan 2 Singapore 1

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