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Lions were unlucky to lose to Cambodia: Fandi

SINGAPORE — National assistant coach Fandi Ahmad has come out to defend the Lions following their 1-2 loss to Cambodia in an international friendly in Phnom Penh on Thursday night (July 28), describing the result as an unlucky defeat for the team even though it was inflicted by a side ranked 180th in the world and 22 rungs below them.

V Sundramoorthy (L) and Fandi Ahmad (R) during a Lions training session on July 11. TODAY file photo

V Sundramoorthy (L) and Fandi Ahmad (R) during a Lions training session on July 11. TODAY file photo

SINGAPORE — National assistant coach Fandi Ahmad has come out to defend the Lions following their 1-2 loss to Cambodia in an international friendly in Phnom Penh on Thursday night (July 28), describing the result as an unlucky defeat for the team even though it was inflicted by a side ranked 180th in the world and 22 rungs below them.

Local football fans had lashed out at the Lions for crashing to their first loss to Cambodia in 44 years, and for failing to make their numerical advantage count after the hosts had a player sent off in the 75th minute.

The defeat was also the Lions’ third from the four friendly matches that they played during their three weeks’ of centralised training. Singapore had also lost 2-3 to the Niigata University of Health and Welfare on July 20 and 0-3 to J-League side Albirex Niigata on July 24 during their two-week training tour of Japan.

Their sole win came from their 2-0 victory over the Japan Soccer College on July 21.

In an email response to TODAY’s questions for national head coach V Sundramoorthy, Fandi described Singapore’s 1-2 loss to Cambodia as “a good game which was very exciting”.

“I believe we were very unlucky today because we had a number of chances, especially when the ball hit the crossbar and the post, and there were a few sitters that we missed,” said the former Singapore captain who also spoke on Sundram’s behalf at the post-match press conference on Thursday night.

“Cambodia did very well but I think we had better possession. However, like I said we were very unlucky and we didn’t take our chances.”

He was referring to the headers that defenders Madhu Mohana and Shakir Hamzah sent wide after Lions striker Khairul Amri cancelled out Cambodia’s opening goal, and Fazrul Nawaz and Zulfarmi Arifin’s attempts after the break which hit the woodwork.

During the game, which was streamed live on YouTube, Sundram was also seen approaching the fourth official angrily after Cambodia midfielder Tit Dina scored the winner deep into first-half injury time. The furious former international eventually had to be restrained by Fandi.

“We believe that the second goal by Cambodia was offside, because we were there,” said Fandi.

“But football is like that, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. I thought that Cambodia had fighting spirit and did very well.”

Fandi added that he felt the Lions did “very well in terms of ball circulation and transition”.

“Cambodia was better at transition and attack, but we managed to contain their attackers,” he said.

Finally, Fandi also reiterated that the aim of the team’s centralised training and tour of Japan was to work on tactical formations as well as give game time to new additions to the squad following the absence of senior players such as Hassan Sunny, Baihakki Khaizan, Safuwan Baharudin, Hariss Harun, and Shahril Ishak, who were all unavailable due to club commitments.

“As you can see, there are so many new players in the squad,” he said.

“Our objective was to try to give our younger players a chance, which we did.”

“At the end of the day, the result matters but we believe we had a good game (against Cambodia), and with all the chances that we had, we shouldn’t have lost – we should have got at least a draw.”

“Hopefully we can get better before the next international game.”

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