By reader Zach Chia
Muhammad Zulqarnaen bin Suzliman (#7) of Singapore U-15s finds himself outnumbered by Corinthians. Singapore were handed a footballing lesson as they crashed 0–7 to the Brazilians. (Photo © Mun Yong Jian/Red Sports)
Jalan Besar Stadium, Saturday, June 8, 2013 — The Singapore National Football Academy (NFA) Under-15s were handed a 7–0 defeat by the FC Corinthians U-15s in their opening game of the 2013 Canon Lion City Cup.
By the time the score went beyond 3-0, the vast majority of the home fans stopped being partisan and just enjoyed the spectacle of football, applauding the Brazilians when they showed deft touches and skill to score.
The Singaporeans were a head shorter than their Brazilian counterparts, and much scrawnier. The U-15s were on the blackfoot from the start, overawed by the occasion, outmuscled and sloppy.
Singapore were outclassed in every department, but there were positive takeaways. The performances of Royston Tan and Hami Syahin were heartening. Amer Hakeem showed his worth when he was composed.
Corinthians were up by 2–0 within the first 11 minutes courtesy of two goals by their captain, Leonardo Rodrigues (#11). Singapore resorted to route one but were too short to win the ball in the air.
In the 25th minute, a diminutive Royston Tan (#16) danced circles around the Conrinthians defence before releasing the ball to striker Hami Syahin (#10), but there not one at the end to receive Syahin’s through ball. This was the turning point in the first half for the Cubs and they settled into the game.
The crowd got into the game and were tough on the kids, expecting a value-for-money performance. Strong words were reserved for some of the Conrinthians players for trying to waste time with five minutes left in the first half.
Identified as the danger man for Singapore by the Brazilians, Hami Syahin found himself a marked man. Everytime he had the ball, he was able to flirt with the Conrinthians defence. He had to be checked physically. In the 37th minute, Singapore tried to spring a counter attack and they got the ball to him, but before he could warm to the ball he had three men on him.
Trailing 2–0, the Cubs put on a more assured performance in the second half. Amer Hakeem, the younger son of former national team captain and current team coach Nazri Nasir, put on a much steadier performance in this half. Amer combined well with captain Danish Jefri to stop a number of dangerous challenges by the Brazilians. However they were beaten for pace by the Brazilians, who had some amazing acceleration skills.
In the 50th minute, the Cubs came close to scoring a goal. Haiqal Pashia (#11) initiated an impressive attack down the left flank with some nifty footwork, wrong footing the Brazilians. The chance was squandered as the resulting header hit the crossbar. Just four minutes later, Rodrigues combined with his teammate to take advanatge of a Singapore lapse in concentration to score his hat-trick.
The floodgates opened. The Brazilians had started to tire but had enough in them to go from silky samba to rough physicality.. In the 62nd minute, Singapore keeper Kenji Rusydi failed to hold on to his ball, leaving Wesley Duarte a free shot at goal for a 4–0 lead.
Still shaken, the Cubs could not focus and Mattheus da Silva popped in for Conrinthians fifth goal. In Singapore’s defense the two goals conceded were during a short span when Singapore were down to 10 men due to an injury to Hami Syahin.
In the 72nd minute, Rodrigues muscled his way through the Singapore back line to blast a shot into the net. The already demoralised Singapore team were swatted away like flies and looked to be disintegrating.
The shambolic display got worse in the 76th minute when a quickly taken goal kick by Kenji took his teammates by surprise. But not a Conrinthians striker. He burst through the back line and smashed the ball into Kenji, the intensity of the shot causing the keeper to spill the ball, leaving an easy tap in for Rafael Bilu (#18).
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