Contributed by Lee Tien Sin

Xianghe, China, Thursday, October 1, 2009 - Singapore were knocked out of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-16 Championship following a 0-7 defeat at the hands of China at the NFTC Stadium in Xianghe, China. China P.R and Timor Leste, the top two teams from Group F of the qualifying tournament, went through to the AFC U16 Championship 2010 Finals.

With the Singapore squad missing two key players due to suspension, Coach K Balagumaran adopted a cautious approach as they only required a draw to finish second on the table. Unfortunately, the match started off on the wrong foot for the Singapore side as defender Shannon Stephen fluffed a clearance to score an own goal just four minutes into the game. Six other goals from the China boys sealed victory for their team as they progress to the next stage of the tournament.

A disappointed Coach Balagumaran lamented after the match: “The China team is technically strong with many tall players. They are deadly at set pieces and corner kicks that allowed them to make full use of their aerial advantage. It did not help that we had to play this game with a depleted squad missing two key players who were on suspension. Our boys gave their best, but are just unable to match the China boys in term of physique.”

Singapore Lineup
1 Khairul Karim Bin Zulhanif (GK), 4 Muhd Syafiq Bin Iderus, 7 Muhd Zakir Bin Samsudin, 8 Anumanthan Mohan Kumar, 11 Nicholas Marc Cher, 12 Muhd Faris Azienudin Bin Khaeri, 14 Muhd Nur Ridho Bin Ahmad Jafri, 15 Muhd Hafiz Bin Rosli, 16 Shannon Stephen, 20 Muhd Ashrul Syafeeq Bin Mod Amin, 25 Marcus Adi Wheeler

Match Statistics
China P.R. - 7
Shannon Stephen (OG) 4′
Qiu Daming 12′
Wu Haoran 20′
Chen Han 38′, 54′
Hu Weiwei 45′, 72′

Singapore - 0

Singapore’s AFC U-16 Championship Results
Singapore 4 Macau 0
Singapore 3 Guam 1
Timor Leste 3 Singapore 0
Hong Kong 1 Singapore 1
China P.R. 7 Singapore 0