Young Lions get campaign back on track

NAYPYIDAW — It was not pretty football last night but it was enough to get a 1-0 win over Vietnam and put their quest for gold at the 27th South-east Asian (SEA) Games back on track.

At the Zeyar Thiri Stadium, the Singapore Under-23s defended stoutly against a nippy Vietnamese side and managed to find the net for the goal that took them to the top of Group A with four points.

Sahil Suhaimi’s strike in first-half injury time may have deflected off a Vietnam defender en route to baffling goalkeeper Tran Buu Ngoc, but there is no doubting the importance of that goal in setting right a campaign that had threatened to derail after the 1-1 opener against Laos.

Vietnam had the better of the action in large parts, threatening as early as the second minute when Vu Minh Tuan’s fierce shot skimmed the crossbar. On two occasions, the Young Lions appeared most vulnerable when their poorly-taken corners led to Vietnamese counter-attacks, and only timely tackles from Faritz Hameed and Afiq Yunos prevented damage from being inflicted.

The central defensive partnership of Afiq and Safuwan Baharudin put in a stellar performance to neutralise the Vietnamese attack, although Faritz and Shakir Hamzah also played to the standards fans have come to expect of them.

Coach Aide Iskandar admitted after the game that he went for a defensive approach.

“Call it lucky or not, to me the boys put in a splendid performance and got the three points,” he said.

“We created some chances, the boys stuck to the game plan and I’m very happy with the result, which is a morale booster as we were under pressure before this.

“It doesn’t guarantee us a place in the semi-finals as we still need to win the next two matches but it’s a relief.

“We all know this team has a lot of quality, we have good players so the draw against Laos felt like a loss to us. The boys knew they had to step up their game and I’m glad they did.”

The Games’ opening ceremony tonight means Aide’s boys will have an extra day’s rest before tackling Brunei on Friday and Malaysia on Sunday. PHILIP GOH