sea games

Judging from the reaction, fans and media are not too impressed with Singapore’s 0-0 draw with Malaysia last night in Jakarta. It was Singapore’s opening match of their South-east Asian (SEA) Games football campaign.

Most readers have rated the Young Lions as “poor” in Red Sports’ ongoing poll (see below) but Singapore’s head coach Slobodan Pavkovic believes the team played to its ability.

“I think at this moment against Malaysia we cannot do much better than this,” said Pavkovic after the match, in a brutally honest assessment of his squad. “This was a game against the defending champions who have been preparing for a long time for this SEA Games, so I think it is one point gained rather than two points lost.”

Pavkovic lined up his squad in a defensive 3-4-2-1 formation, making life difficult for the Malaysians, especially in the first 20 minutes.

Malaysian head coach Ong Kim Swee admitted as much.

“We did not play well in the first 20 minutes but after that, I thought we did well except to score,” said Kim Swee, according to the Malaysian newspaper, New Straits Times.

The Singapore print media were not impressed.

“The Singapore side were toothless in attack, they showed no pace anywhere around the pitch and there was little inter-play in the engine room to spark any sort of smart build-up,” wrote the TODAY newspaper.

The Straits Times labelled it “a drab 0-0 draw” in an editorial headlined “No goals, no fizz”.

The New Paper highlighted one positive from the game, noting that the team “kept their concentration and discipline throughout the 90 minutes”.

The Malaysian media were not too happy with their team either. The New Straits Times wrote that “Malaysia did not have the look of champions”, describing the 0-0 draw as “disappointing”.

“Despite fielding an attacking lineup featuring four strikers, no goals were on hand as the route to the last four became trickier ahead of tomorrow’s match against Thailand,” wrote the New Straits Times about their Malaysian team.

On Facebook, Red Sports reader Skyee Alfonso felt that “basically they [Young Lions] played well, strikers need to improve to be more aggressive (and) must pressure the defence. You can defend well, control the midfield, but if the striker is not pressuring the defence, you can’t win the game.”

In a comment left on Red Sports, reader KZ described the Young Lions as having given “a fighting performance”. “[T]he only drawback with this young lions team,” wrote KZ, “is that they do not have a razor sharp striker who can convert the chances created. Hence they might struggle in the competition as goals matter.”

With Indonesia thrashing Cambodia 6-0 in another Group A match last night, goal difference might come into play as the tournament progresses. Only the top two from the group will qualify for the semi-finals. The pressure is now on Singapore to score against Cambodia whom they will meet tomorrow, Wednesday, November 9th, 2011. The game will be shown ‘live’ on MediaCorp Channel 5 at 7.55pm.

With regard to Singapore's 0-0 draw with Malaysia at the 2011 SEA Games football tournament ...

  • The Young Lions were poor. (63%, 332 Votes)
  • The Young Lions were average. (23%, 120 Votes)
  • The Young Lions were good. (15%, 78 Votes)

Total Voters: 530

Loading ... Loading ...

SEA Games 2011 Football — Group A Fixtures

Venue for all matches: Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta. Time shown is Singapore time. Jakarta time is one hour behind.

(cross-flag-pins.com)
Day/DateTeam ATeam BTime
Mon, Nov 7Singapore
0Malaysia 05pm
Mon, Nov 7Indonesia 6Cambodia 08pm
Wed, Nov 9Malaysia 2Thailand 15pm
Wed, Nov 9Cambodia 1Singapore 28pm
Fri, Nov 11Singapore 0Indonesia 23pm
Fri, Nov 11Thailand 4Cambodia 06pm
Sun, Nov 13Malaysia 4Cambodia 15pm
Sun, Nov 13Indonesia 3Thailand 18pm
Thu, Nov 17Thailand 0Singapore 25pm
Thu, Nov 17Indonesia 0Malaysia 18pm

SEA Games 2011 Football — Group A Table

TeamPWDLFAPTS
Malaysia 43107210
Indonesia 43011129
Singapore 4211437
Thailand 4103673
Cambodia 4004260
(cross-flag-pins.com)

SEA Games 2011 Football — Group B Fixtures

Venue for Nov 3rd matches: Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta. Venue for all other matches: Lebak Bulus Stadium, Jakarta. Time shown is Singapore time. Jakarta time is one hour behind.

(cross-flag-pins.com)
Day/DateTeam ATeam BTime
Thu, Nov 3Vietnam 3Philippines
15pm
Thu, Nov 3Laos
2Myanmar 38pm
Sat, Nov 5Brunei 1Timor Leste
25pm
Sat, Nov 5Myanmar 0Vietnam
08pm
Mon, Nov 7Timor Leste
2Philippines
15pm
Mon, Nov 7Laos
2Brunei 28pm
Wed, Nov 9Myanmar
4Brunei 05pm
Wed, Nov 9Vietnam
2Timor Leste
08pm
Fri, Nov 11Philippines
3Laos
25pm
Sat, Nov 12Brunei 0Vietnam
85pm
Sun, Nov 13Philippines
0Myanmar
55pm
Sun, Nov 13Timor Leste
0Laos
38pm
Tue, Nov 15Myanmar
1Timor Leste
05pm
Tue, Nov 15Philippines
1Brunei 18pm
Thu, Nov 17Laos 1Vietnam
35pm

SEA Games 2011 Football — Group B Table

TeamPWDLFAPTS
Vietnam 541016213
Myanmar
541013013
Timor Leste 5203486
Laos 511310114
Philippines 51136134
Brunei 50234172
(cross-flag-pins.com)