MANILA: He prowled the touchline constantly, gesticulating, shouting, urging.
At times, Laos coach V Sundramoorthy’s voice seemed to echo into the grandstands and at the final whistle, he had the best reason to shout, as Laos held Singapore to a 0-0 draw at the 30th SEA Games on Monday (Nov 26).
Sundram’s Laos hassled, harried and harassed Fandi Ahmad’s Singapore throughout the 90 minutes at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, and their reward was a hard-earned point.
After a scrappy start to the game, the Young Lions’ first opportunity came courtesy of Faris Ramli, who cut in from the left but directed his shot just over the bar.
But urged on by Sundram, Singapore’s former national team head coach, Laos grew into the game, biting into tackles against the much taller Singapore players.
Fandi’s side had an even bigger scare in the 30th minute as the Laotians won a freekick just outside the Singapore box. But Young Lions custodian Zharfan Rohaizad held well.
As the game opened up, a minute later, Ikhsan was played cleverly through by Shah Shahiran, only for Laos goalkeeper Xaysavath to block with his legs.
A Singapore freekick is saved by the Laos goalkeeper during a SEA Games 2019 football match on Nov 26, 2019. (Photo: Matthew Mohan)
Another chance fell the way of Singapore a couple of minutes later as Faris carved his way into the box and found Irfan, but the center-back could only fire his shot wide.
Singapore started the second half in lively fashion, with Zulqarnaen Suzliman picking out Ikhsan Fandi, but the Raufoss striker could only direct his shot straight at the goalkeeper.
Zulqarnaen was the next player to attempt an effort of his own, but his low shot was palmed away.
Singapore began to pile on the pressure, with a shot from Shah narrowly wide of the post with the Laos goalkeeper beaten. Then it was Ikhsan with a header just over.
As the Young Lions pressed, Laos soaked up the pressure and almost delivered a sucker punch – only for defender Syahrul Sazali to deliver an excellent block.
Arguably, the best chance of the game came in the 78th minute, as a floating cross from Tajeli Salamat found Ikhsan, but his header hit the crossbar and went over.
As the clock ticked down, tackles began to fly in but Laotian side held on for the draw.
Singapore’s Irfan Fandi is tackled during a SEA Games 2019 match against Laos on Nov 26, 2019. (Photo: Matthew Mohan)
The Young Lions have never won SEA Games gold.
Singapore last won a medal at the SEA Games in 2013, when it won bronze in Myanmar. It failed to progress from the group stages at the last two SEA Games.
The football competition is an age-group tournament comprising Under-22 teams, which can field two overage players.
Singapore are in Group B, which consists of defending champions Thailand, regional heavyweights Indonesia and Vietnam as well as Brunei and Laos.
In Group A, hosts Philippines were drawn with Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia and Timor Leste.
The top two teams from each group qualify for the semi-finals.
The Young Lions will next face Indonesia, who upset Thailand 2-0 in the day’s earlier game, on Thursday.
Follow Mediacorp’s coverage of the 30th SEA Games and get the widest Team Singapore coverage with four LIVE channels on Toggle. Go to toggle.sg/seagames2019 for details.
