SINGAPORE DENY HOSTS INDONESIA

Going into the crucial tie of the meet this afternoon, Singapore came out confident buoyed by their 1-1 draw against Australia two days earlier.

And the young side from Singapore scored early in the first half off Muhammad Muhaymin Salim in the third minute before Indonesia replied from Fahreza Agamal in the 57th minute.

The draw for Indonesia today meant that the hosts will have to rethink of their plans for the next few months after conceding three losses and one draw in four matches.

“It was a very stressful game for me although I felt that we could have scored at least two goals in the first half,” said Masanaga Kageyama, the head coach for Singapore.

”Indonesia played better in the second half and they came almost denied us a place in the next round. But with the red card today (on G. Pravin), we will lose two players for the next match (Ali Huszaifi Yosof, who has been suspended).”

Singapore had the perfect start to their campaign when they scored early in the third minute off Muhaymin, who capitalised on a defensive mistake from Haidar Naufal to slam home.

The hosts then attempted to come back into the game through captain Rudi Setiawan but he was not capably supported by his team-mates.

In the 30th minute, Pravin frittered away his chance while six minutes later, Muhaymin blasted his attempt over.

Indonesia was stronger coming into the second half and in the 57th minute, Rudi floated in a cross for Fahreza to score.

As the match gained momentum to the closing stages of the match, the several physical exchanges resulted in a red card for Pravin, who was faulted with stepping on Indonesia’s Achmad Resal Octavian.

“We were playing under a lot of pressure and the players felt burdened and stressed with having to win this game,” added Mundari Karya, the head coach for Indonesia.

“We are disappointed with the results naturally but we were playing against some of the best teams in the region.”

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE and RESULTS

09/07/08
AUSTRALIA 2 BAHRAIN 1
SINGAPORE 0 MALAYSIA 2

11/07/08
BAHRAIN 1 SINGAPORE 0
INDONESIA 0 AUSTRALIA 6

13/07/08
AUSTRALIA 4 MALAYSIA 1
BAHRAIN 2 INDONESIA 0

15/07/08
MALAYSIA 2 INDONESIA 0
SINGAPORE 1 AUSTRALIA 1

17/07/08
INDONESIA 1 SINGAPORE 1
1900 WIB: Malaysia vs Bahrain

19/07/08
1600 WIB: Third vs Fourth
1900 WIB: First vs Second (Grand Final)

CURRENT STANDINGS

1. AUSTRALIA 10pts (+12)

2. MALAYSIA 6pts (+3)

3. BAHRAIN 6pts (+2)

4. SINGAPORE 2pt (-3)

5. INDONESIA 1pt (-10)