Sunday, January 28, 2007
Singapore have booked a place in next week's Asean Football Championship final after beating Malaysia 5-4 on penalty kicks at the National Stadium on Saturday.
The second leg of the semi-final had ended 1-1 after extra time.
Substitute Mohd Khyril Muhymeen's poor spot kick was easily saved by Lionel Lewis and the defending champions now host either Thailand or Vietnam in the first leg of the final on January 31.
Earlier, Indra Sahdan, Noh Alam Shah, Mustafic Fahrudin, Fazrul Nawaz and Shi Jia Yi all scored from the spot for Singapore.
Eddy Helmi Abd Manan had given the vistors the lead in the 57th minute but even the Johor FC midfielder himself would have had to 'thank' Lionel Lewis for what was surely go down as a soft goal as far as Singapore were concerned.
Singapore wasted two excellent opportunities in the space of two minutes as Ridhuan and then Indra failed to hit the target despite only having Syamsuri to beat on both occasions.
Then came the shock goal by Eddy Helmi to give the Malaysians the advantage. There seemed to be little danger as the midfielder received a long pass from defender Nurhafiz Zamani Misbah.
Bennett whipped in another trademark cross from the left as the hosts launched another attack with a quarter of an hour left. Alam Shah did well to climb above his marker and get his head on the ball. But before Syamsuri could smother the ball, Ridhuan came from literally nowhere to bundle the ball in from two metres out.
You can get the full report at www.fas.org.sg
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