The Cubs put the Lions to shame...one day they'll be Lions

[Dennis Ng]

Don't know where to post this, so posted it here.

Singapore Soccer Team, other than the glory in the 70s, where we had football stars such as Kuah Kim Song, Dollah Kassim......thereafter in early 80s we had Fandhi Ahmad, Kadir Yahaya, Goal Keeper David Lim......thereafter? I can't recall any names...

However, in the Youth Olympic Games, Singapore "cubs" shone through. You can see them giving their 110%, chasing after balls, playing their hearts out in the field....and it finally won us some Pride in this largely mediocre Youth Olympic Games that "flopped" despite spending S$387 million....below is news report on the Night the Cubs Roared.....one day they'll become Lions and I hope they will bring back the Kallang Roar...

Cheers!

Dennis Ng

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Roar of the 70s could well make a come-back and it would be due in no small part to the likes of teenagers Brandon Koh and Muhaimin Suhaimi.

They may not be among Singapore's football luminaries but it's hard not to notice their battling displays at the Youth Olympic Games.

It was a pulsating 80 minutes of football action at the Jalan Besar stadium on Thursday night when Singapore took on Montengro in the final group stages.

Despite both teams having qualified for the semi-finals, there was still plenty at stake as the losing team would have to take on favourites Bolivia in the next round.

In front of a sold-out crowd at the Jalan Besar stadium, the Young Cubs proved once again that size isn't everything, putting on a lion-hearted display of guts and determination to overcome the physically-advantaged Montenegro team.

Standing at 1.59 metres, it was a mismatch between Jovan Baosic and Singapore striker Muhaimin Suhaimi who stood 20 centimetres shorter.

But within three minutes of the starting whistle, the diminutive striker slipped past Montenegro's defence to double his tournament tally for a clinical finish through a fine pass from Mohd Hanafi.

Suhaimi wasn't the only hero of the night. Recovering from an early gaffe that gave the opposing team an advantage, goalkeeper Fashah Rosedin's put in heroic performances against Montenegro's onslaught.

Standing tall between the posts, his bravery was personified in the 43rd minute when he placed his body on the line to deny Montenegro striker Steven Krivopaic.

Bearing the brunt of several physical challenges too, was speedy winger Brandon Koh.

"It was tough out there. They tried to intimidate us with their physical with us but coach Kadir told us to play with our brains," said Brandon after the game.

Using brains and also brawn, Brandon was spot-on for Singapore's winning goal in the 75th minute, much to the delight of the 5,850 fans who almost brought down the roof of the Jalan Besar Stadium with their ear-splitting roars.

Later Brandon 'confessed' that it was neither tactic nor timing that saw him bringing home the winning goal.

"Honestly, my mind was in (a) blank. I didn't think so much about it. I just wanted to score," he said.

Soccer is a mind-game as much as it is one of speed, stamina and skill as the Montenegro boys learnt when losing their cool and earning a send-off for Nikola Jovanovic in the 64th minute for throwing a punch at Ammirul Mazlan.

The sweltering night didn't go entirely Singapore's way.

After a bright start, the team failed to maintain their momentum and went behind 2-1 midway through the first-half.

Coach Kadir Yahaya was forced to made an early reshuffle to stem the flood.

The former Singapore international brought on Iskander Khairul for Sunny Ng in the 25th minute and got his wingers Jonathan Tan and Brandon Koh to switch flanks.

"I'm still trying to find out the problem. The player [Sunny] was probably too nervous and overawed by the occasion," explained Kadir of his early substitution decision.

The bold gamble paid off in the 37th minute when Brandon cleverly bicycle-kicked the ball back into the penalty area and captain Jeffery Lightfoot headed home an equalizer.

Thursday night's 3-2 victory means Singapore will take on Haiti in the semi-final.

The odds are already in favour of the Young Cubs as Haiti was trashed 9-0 by Bolivia in the group stages. But coach Kadir isn't ready to let the guards down.

"We still need to give Haiti respect. They have players who can do damage to our team" he said.

That's means the locker-room celebrations have to be cut short.

"First of all, we have to contain our boys' emotions after tonight's win and approach the semis seriously," said Kadir.

That leaves just the rest of Singapore to party for the boys.

"It was another great performance by our team" said Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, who was clearly delighted with the team's performance after catching the match.

"They're now through and what I saw was a really gutsy performance. Against bigger opponents, they never said die, they brought the fight to them."

The semi-final match between Singapore and Haiti will take place on Sunday, August 22, 8.45pm at Jalan Besar Stadium.

Tickets are sold-out.

MediaCorp will be broadcasting the match 'live' on Channel 5 at 8.40pm this Sunday.