SINGAPORE (23 July 2014) – Bernd Stange, the head coach of Singapore said that he is still pleased nonetheless despite the ASEAN champions 2-0 loss to Russian side Dinamo Moscow in their third and final friendly in Austria.
“It was the best performance of the trip. I am never happy when we lose, but the way the players performed today pleased me very much, especially the first 60 minutes. We matched them for the first hour and played great football, but Dinamo Moscow increased their speed and power and we could not keep up,” said Stange.
“For example, Al-Qaasimy had a good performance even playing against a star like Yuri Zhirkov, but began to make mistakes in the second half due to his fitness. He cannot be blamed because he is still a semi-professional.
“What this shows is that we have talent in Singapore, we just need to improve the fitness. Our defence played well, Hassan pulled off a few outstanding saves, and I was also pleased with our youngsters – Al-Qaasimy, Iqbal and Sahil – it was a great lesson for them. No team in South-east Asia can press as hard and as high up the pitch as Dinamo did.”
Singapore had drawn Czech side FC Brno to a 2-2 draw before conceding a 3-0 loss to Torpedo Moscow in their first two friendly matches.
Against Dinamo, the Singapore side were more determined in defence and only conceded the first goal on 64 minutes off a nod from Aleksandr Prudnikov.
Three minutes later, Prudnikov made it 2-0 for the final score line.
