AYG Football: 10-man China cruise to 3-0 victory over Singapore

Story by Gerald Goh/Red Sports. Photos by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports.

Jalan Besar Stadium, Wednesday, July 1, 2009 - The People’s Republic of China cruised to a 3-0 victory over Singapore in an Asian Youth Games Football second round tie, despite having Zhu Zhengyu sent off for a professional foul in the 20th minute. China's superior technique, skill and off-the-ball movement left the Singapore players chasing shadows.

Despite being a man down, China were not made to sweat as Singapore failed to register a single shot on target. The result puts China on top of Group A with maximum points, and Singapore firmly at the bottom without a single point after previous losses against Iran and Thailand.

Needing to win by at least 5 goals to have any hopes of progressing, Singapore began their unenviable task in nervy fashion, with lots of scrappy play between both sides as passes went astray and clearances were fluffed.

Nevertheless, Singapore's Brandon Koh Lim Leong attempted to take the fight to the Chinese. He feinted and skipped his way into the box, but wasted his good effort as he pushed the ball straight to the opposition.

Mohammed Irfan Asyraf bin Mohammed Aziz then tried his luck with an audacious lob at goal, which just cleared the crossbar. China began to impose themselves on the game, as Liang Xueming's fierce shot in the 16th minute was beaten away by Singapore’s shot-stopper Mohammed Fashah Iskandar, and China captain Yan Peng pouncing on the rebound which went narrowly wide.

Fashah again had to be alert to parry China's Xiao Yufeng's effort in the 20th minute. A minute later, China found themselves down to 10 men as Zhu Zhengyu was shown the red card after bundling over Mohammed Adri bin Adnan, who was clean through on goal.

However, Singapore failed to make their numerical advantage count, as the China players seamlessly re-adjusted their formation at will. Their superiority became rudely evident in the 26th minute, as Yan Peng ran onto a perfectly-timed Liang Xueming lay-off to slam the ball past an onrushing Fashah.

An off-the-ball incident involving a deliberate kick on Brandon by Wang Yiran saw the referee brandish a yellow card, when a second red card might have been a more appropriate punishment. China continued to probe the Singapore backline, and with the Singapore back-four nowhere to be found in the 38th minute, Yan Peng turned his marker inside out and smashed home his and China's second.

In first-half stoppage time, Mohammed Firdaus bin Mohammed Shah battled his way past 3 defenders, but eventually ran out of room and options in a foray that typified Singapore's performance thus far.

Four minutes into the second half, China's Tang Shi stole possession in Singapore's final third, feeding Yan Peng who then promptly squared the ball for Liang Xueming to pull the trigger. Fashah's save bobbled out to Yan Peng, who clinically claimed his hat-trick as Singapore captain Jeffrey Adam Lightfoot was guilty of ball-watching.

With Singapore struggling to hold onto the ball for any decent length of time, China's Wang Yiran rolled the ball agonisingly wide of goal. At this point, Singapore was beginning to look more like the side labouring with 10 men, and not China.

Under absolutely no contact whatsoever, China's Xu Jun fell down in the 63rd minute clutching his knee and rolling in agony on the turf, amid boos and hissing from the Singapore supporters mocking his blatant play-acting.

As the clock ran down, Adri nearly got on the end of a high ball, but had it toe-poked away under his nose. Jeffrey then found Mohammed Hanafi bin Mohammed Akbar with a good pass in the 79th minute, whose curled shot went centimetres wide.

The gamesmanship spotlight was again on China as Wang Yaopeng committed a foul in extra-time, then looked ready to provoke a confrontation as a posse of Singapore players gathered. Bizarrely, Wang then went down abruptly, clutching his head in a poor attempt to con the referee, who inexplicably failed to address the matter.

Singapore coach Sivalingam s/o Velasamy remarked after the match that the height advantage of the Chinese players was not a significant factor in their dominant play. "Their skills were better than the Singapore players, but we fought for every ball. Our boys depend more on fight than physique. We emphasised the long-ball strategy."

Sivalingam defended his team's defensive posture despite China being reduced to 10 men. "We wanted to attack more on the left flank, but they (China) were more experienced. Hanafi did have 2 shots that were saved by the goalkeeper."

Sivalingam also added that despite the Singapore team's three losses in as many games, it was good exposure for the players. "It's good for them to watch them (China). We will be looking for good players, and we need more strikers."

China coach Zhu Jinxing praised the perseverance and strategies of the Singapore team, commenting that they had ´a lot of things to learn from the Singapore players'. "We're happy with the results, we respect the players and the officials."

Zhu Jinxing also downplayed the efforts hat-trick hero Yan Peng. "He's skilful but he needs lots of encouragement, his team-mates have helped him a lot."