Philippines 0-0 Singapore: Lions Fought Hard

Lions Fought Hard
AFF Suzuki Cup Semi-Finals 1st Leg
Philippines 0-0 Singapore by FootballMania

Sharil Ishak, Izwan Mahbud, and Safuwan Bahrudin

Chance after chance, but the Lions could not convert them into goals. It was clear that they wanted to get an early goal as early, and they dominated the first half of the match. The Lions pressed hard, and as early as the 1st minute, they were awarded a free-kick. Shaiful Esah swirled the free-kick in heading to the top corner, but Philippines goalkeeper Eduard Sacapano tips it away. In the 17th minute, Khairul Amri got onto a nice long ball but his shot went wide. The home side decided they were the hosts after all, and pushed the ball forward to Phil Younghusband, but the 25 year-old's shot is too soft and Izwan Mahbud picks it up easily.

Die-hard Lions fans who travelled to
Manila to support the team

Sharil Ishak skillfully got pass a defender on the counter-attack, but there are more Azkals ahead and he passes it backwards. The ball eventually falls to Duric who crosses it low into the danger zone, but the Singapore captain is a little too late and his lunge to touch the ball is in vain. Then, just 3 minutes later, Singapore catch the Philippines defence in sixes and sevens with their passing and Mustafic gets a strong shot off, but goalkeeper Eduard Sacapano is there to save it.



The Lions' closest chance

Mustafic continued his impressive performance and challenges Jason de Jong on the right, then making a clever pass to Sharil Ishak. Ishak slides the ball to Amri but Amri's shot does not make it 1-0 in favour of the Lions. Safuwan Bahrudin picked up the 1st yellow card of the game with a tackle on Angel Guirado.




Philippines fans cheering after their national anthem
is played.

The Azkals began the second half in search of goals but Singapore got the first closest chance when Sharil Ishak swung a ball to find Duric, but the tall Tampines Rovers striker heads it wide. Isa Halim picked up the second yellow card with a dangerous tackle on Patrick Reichelt. Two minutes later, Khairul Amri gets an open look but he takes too long to prepare and his shot is deflected by the defender. Michael Weiss's Philippine side got their best chance of the second half when Rob Mulders's 30-yard free-kick curled too much to the left and the ball flew inches wide of the post.

Bad news for Singapore came in the 78th minute when Mustafic and Amri go down one after another. Angel Guirado rams the ball straight into Mustafic and the midfielder drops to the ground in pain. Amri twists his ankle just a few seconds later when the ball moved up to him on the left flank. Singapore coach Raddy Avramovic puts Fazrul Nawaz on for Amri, while Mustafic comes back from the sidelines 5 minutes later.


James Younghusband challenged by Aleksandar
Duric while Shaiful Esah looks on.

Sharil Ishak did well to pick up several loose passes as the clock ticked down, but his efforts did not produce better chances for the Lions, while the referee calls for 4 minutes of added time. Safuwan Bahrudin almost scored when the final whistle was just so close to being sounded, but he heads the ball straight to the Philippines goalkeeper Sacapano.

Daniel Bennett and Sharil Ishak talked about looking ahead to Wednesday's match when they host the Philippines at the Jalan Besar Stadium in front of a sell-out crowd. Bennett commented that "We always knew it was going to be tough here, they've got a physical team but I think they know when they come to Singapore it's going to be harder for them.", while Ishak said "We had many chances but couldn't manage them. But the match is over, time to move on and concentrate on the 'second half' back at Jalan Besar." It was certainly a determined performance from the Lions, for an away goal could give them the advantage. They played hungrier and certainly deserved a win, but 0-0 was the final score, as the Lions welcome the Azkals to their den on Wednesday.