Singapore lose football friendly to Oman

Bishan Stadium, Thursday, December 31, 2009 – Singapore football ended the year on a losing note, going down 1-4 to Oman in a friendly.

This was the last preparatory game for the Lions before their AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Iran at the National Stadium on January 6th.

Three first-half goals by Oman left the Singapore national football team reeling.

Oman opened the scoring through Fauzi Basheer after 15 minutes and Yaqoob Abdul Kareem added another five minutes later.

It was the second meeting in the space of three days between the two teams. The earlier match ended goalless.

Hussan Ali made it 3-0 by half-time for the Omanis who are preparing for their AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Indonesia on January 6th as well.

Osama Hadid then scored a fourth for Oman in the 69th minute before Indra Sahdan pulled one back for Singapore from a Shaiful Esah free-kick.

Indra pounced a loose ball after the Omani keeper failed to hold Shaiful’s free-kick. It was Indra’s 27th goal in 105 international appearances.

“We gave them chances while we did not take our own and as a result they punished us. We certainly deserved this result,” said an unhappy Singapore national coach Radokjo Avramovic, on the FAS website.

“With their quality in passing and movement, they were sure to punish us if we played like we did.

“We hardly had any positives out of this game and we must now ask ourselves some hard questions ahead of next Wednesday’s match.”

Singapore are second in Group E, just ahead of Thailand (5 points) and Jordan (4) and will need to at least a draw against Iran (7) who top the group.

The top two teams qualify for the Asian Cup finals in Doha, Qatar, in 2011.

Singapore Line Up
Hassan Sunny (gk), Baihakki Khaizan (Rosman Sulaiman 71′), Precious Emeujeraye, Daniel Bennett, Shaiful Esah, Khairul Amri (Ridhuan Muhamad 17′), Hariss Harun, Fahrudin Mustafic (Noh Rahman 46′), Shahril Ishak (Fazrul Nawaz 46′), Aleksandar Duric (Indra Sahdan 46′) and Noh Alam Shah (c) (Mazrezwan Masturi 70′)

AFC – Asian Cup Qatar 2011 (Qualifying Stage)
Singapore Vs Islamic Republic of Iran

DATE
Wednesday 6 January 2010
07:30PM

VENUE
National Stadium

TICKET PRICE
S$11 – Grandstand
S$7 – Gallery
S$3 – Gallery (Child/ Student- Pri, Sec, ITE & JC) and Senior Citizen 55 yrs & above

Tickets are on sale at SISTIC

Singapore National Football Team