Youth Olympic Hockey: Late fightback not enough as Singapore succumb 1-2 to Chile

Story by Kenneth Tan/Red Sports. Photos by Les Tan/Red Sports

Sengkang Hockey Stadium, Saturday, August 21, 2010 – Singapore boys hockey team remained luckless in their Youth Olympic Games (YOG) campaign as they were handed their fourth consecutive defeat. Despite a spirited performance, the hosts were edged out 2-1 by Chile.

After losing their first three games to Australia, Belgium and Pakistan, there was a fighting chance for a win when pitted against Chile, who has yet too to win a game before this tie.

The hosts showed a promising start in the early stages of the game with some neat passing from the back but soon faded away as Chile seized control scoring two goals in 18 minutes.

Matias Mardones (#7) took advantage of some slack marking by the Singapore defence to sweep home a right-wing cross in the 14th minute, before Felipe Tapia (#10) flicked home in the 32nd minute from close range with the defence once again failing to clear their lines.

However, the Singapore boys remained calm despite the two-goal deficit as they controlled and passed the ball patiently. Gradually they grew in confidence and began to pile on the pressure with captain Nur Ashriq Ferdaus Zulkepli (#6) leading the charge through his surging runs from midfield.

They earned three penalty corners in quick succession and made the third one count as Mohd Haseef Salim (#4) slammed home his third goal of the tournament.

The goal brought much-needed life into the game which looked stale in the second half. Singapore clearly went for broke in search of the equaliser as the clock wound down and the hosts managed to create plenty of chances with their good use of flanks.

The final five minutes saw Singapore dominating the game as they were awarded four penalty corners but were denied by some desperate Chile defending. The Chileans had thrown themselves at two fierce shots from Mohd Haseef in order to successfully deflect them from goal.

Alas time ran out for Singapore. It was surely a tough defeat to swallow as the Singapore boys sank to the ground in despair.

An inconsolable Singapore captain Nur Ashriq Ferdaus declined to comment after the match while the team’s coach, Gerard Danker, faced the media on his team’s behalf.

“The loss was down to a combination of factors,” coach Danker said calmly. “The boys didn’t play as well as they have done previously. Towards the end, we could sense the Chileans getting tired but we didn’t take our chances well when presented.”

“It was maybe due to fatigue as they played Pakistan the previous night. Also I felt some harsh umpire decisions proved crucial”, he added, “for example, there was a shot in the last five minutes that came off the boot of their postman which would have given us a penalty stroke, it could be due to the speed of the game that the referee missed it.”

When quizzed about his boys being in tears, coach Danker responded: ”The boys trained together since last July. They felt this was a good chance to earn their first three points but let it slipped out of their hands. They will have to learn about composure as young players and how to prepare mentally and physically before a game.”

When asked what he will do to lift his boys’ spirits for their final preliminaries game, he shared: “I’ll prefer to leave it to themselves as they need some space, but if they need to speak to someone, we’ll be there. It’s important to put things into perspective as this is part of the growing process. At this point of time, we’ll let them recover from their wounds and then get them into shape for Tuesday.”

The Singapore boys will take on Ghana in their final game scheduled for Monday, August 23, 8pm, at the same venue.

For Singapore fixtures and results, go to our 2010 YOG fixtures page