By REDintern Ismail Farhan Anuar. Photo and video courtesy of World Sport Group

Bukit Jalil Stadium, Wednesday, November 28, 2012 — 10-man Singapore went down 0-1 to Indonesia in their Group B ASEAN Football Championship (AFF Suzuki Cup) match.

This was Singapore’s first loss to Indonesia in this tournament, and ended a 12-game unbeaten run in all competitions since 1997.

The loss came after a 3-0 opening win against Malaysia. A win against Laos in their final group game will ensure qualification for the semi-final.

Indonesian substitute Andik Vermansah proved to be the difference between the sides with a free kick goal, as well as getting Singapore left back Irwan Shah sent off for a second bookable offense.

Indonesia had to win this match after their disappointing 2-2 opening draw against Laos. They dominated the possession for the first 20 minutes of the match, pressing high up the pitch. The Singapore defence were also making uncharacteristic mistakes at the back under pressure, with under-hit passes and miscommunication between the defence and the goalkeeper.

In the 21st minute, Indonesia’s Elie Aiboy, with either sheer self-confidence or wastefulness, tried to lob Singapore goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud from 25 yards out. A quick turnover in the same minute resulted in Rachmat Syamsuddin flicking off a lob pass into the path of Vendry Mofu to drive the ball from range. It was Indonesia’s first real chance at goal but Izwan was alert to palm it away to safety.

Finally it was Singapore’s turn to seriously test the Indonesian reserve goalkeeper. On 23 minutes, a well-rehearsed set play saw Wahyu Tri-Nugroho somehow get a hand to Shahdan Sulaiman’s thunderbolt long-ranger through a crowd of bodies.

Mustafic Fahrudin was becoming increasingly influential as the match went on, comfortably breaking up Indonesia’s build-up play and setting his team mates up for the counter. However, Singapore were still vulnerable from the flanks, in particular the left flank where Elie Aiboy was given much space to run by Irwan Shah who was constantly venturing up the field. Elie Aiboy was having one of his off-days though, wasting at least three counter attack chances due to his poor passing.

His disappointing performance saw Andik coming in to take his place and the latter’s tricky dribbling and pace wrecked havoc on Singapore’s left flank and resulted in Irwan Shah getting sent off for a second yellow. Bennett was then shifted to cover at left back and Jiayi had to play right back.

An awkward header from Baihakki on the 70th minute nearly put veteran striker Bambang Pamungkas one-on-one with Izwan but the Singapore custodian was quick off his line to snatch at the ball.

Singapore then thought they had won a penalty in the 73rd minute when Khairul Amri was brought down in the penalty box but the referee booked him for diving instead. Singapore were again unlucky in the 81st minute when a Jiayi cross from the right flank was met cleanly by the head of Aleksandar Duric only to see it ping off the crossbar with the goalkeeper completely beaten.

Singapore’s luck was summed up by the way they conceded the goal in the 87th minute. Andik’s far post free kick caught the Singapore goalkeeper off his line and went straight into the back of the net.

“I am proud of my players. They made the game very exciting today and they played with good motivation and good spirit,” said Indonesia coach Nil Maizar, whose team leapfrogged Singapore to the top of Group B with four points.

Added Indonesia forward Irfan Bachdim: “We fought really hard for this game and finally we got what we deserved.

“We played hard as a team and we worked hard and I think we were more hungry for the win. I think that we deserved this win but we have to go back to reality now. We have got four points but I think that we need three more and so we have to focus on the next game against Malaysia.”

Singapore coach Radojko Avramovic felt that his side were unlucky not to get at least a point from the match.

“As expected, it was a difficult game and I think that there were two parts to it – the game before the red card and after that,” he said.

“In my opinion, Indonesia were happy to play for one point before Irwan was sent off because they were content to play on the counter-attack. But after that, there were still three critical moments when we should have got a penalty, Shahril headed over and Duric hit the post.

“Then I thought the game was finished but then it happened that Andik scored but I think he was trying to cross the ball and not to score,” added Avramovic.

Singapore’s next match will be against Laos on Saturday, December 1st, at 8.45 pm.

In a later Group B clash, Malaysia trounced Laos 4-1 to ensure that Group B is still wide open down to the final round of fixtures.