A few months ago, they thrilled the nation with the explosive brand of football with the likes of Adam Swandi and R.Aaravin emerging leading their team-mates to raise their game against club football giants like Juventus and Newcastle United FC in the 23rd Canon Lion City Cup. Next up was the ASEAN Football Federation U16 Youth Championship 2011 in July and walked away being the fourth-placed team along with three other awards, the highest scoring team, top goalscorer award and Fair Play Award.
Fast forward to September 2011, they congregated at the Changi International Airport to board a plane scheduled to take them to the AFC U16 Championship 2012 Qualifiers held at Pyongyang, DPR Korea from 8 to 18 September.
Singapore was drawn in Group E together with reigning Champions DPR Korea, China PR, Malaysia and
Timor Leste. Despite being in a tough group, there was hope for qualification to the final by being placed as the third best team in the East Zone.
The team together with Head Coach Gulscevic Dejan, Assistant Coach Shahrin Shari, Goalkeeping Coach Gavin Chung, Physiotherapist Majid Khan and Team Manager Sobban Munyandy left for the Pyongyang, North Korea on the 5th of September 2011.
After 12 long hours of travel, the team reached Pyongyang, the capital city of DPR Korea and was greeted with lush greenery surrounding the airport. This trip in particular was a special one as no mobile phones were allowed into the country and Internet access was scarce which would prove hard for the connected-in generation the players are from.
This meant the players had only themselves to chat with and it helped the players with better communication and made friendships grow stronger. It was evident that such close communication helped them on the pitch too as they progressed in the tournament.
After settling in the Yanggakdo International Hotel, The team got down to business with an afternoon training session scheduled for the next two days. The training sessions went well and without any incidents as the players got used to the atmosphere and pitch. Everything was put in place for the September 10th match against China who were the second best team in the group.
The big day came and the Cubs were unable to contain the Chinese for the whole of 90 minutes despite holding them to a draw in the first half. The match ended 3-1 in favor of the Chinese U16 team with the lone goal for Singapore scored by Captain Adam Swandi from the spot.
Taking the loss in their stride, the team went back to the drawing board to prepare for the all important match against defending champion, DPR Korea. To everyone’s surprise, the match between DPR Korea and Singapore went down as the most exciting match of the group.
The cubs matched the champions in all departments on the pitch and created numerous chances up front. However they failed to convert it and in the dying minutes, they conceded a goal, giving the Koreans all three points.
Heart broken, the Cubs held their heads up high as they left the pitch to a standing ovation from the fans present. There was still a chance for qualification as there were two more matches to be played.
The match against Malaysia evoked all the rivalry between both nations on the pitch despite the age group and the Cubs looked forward to it to do their nation proud.
A fast and tough match it was, with both teams looking for glory and wary not to let up too much space at the back. It was the Malaysians who broke the deadlock, leaving the Cubs with extra work to bring the game back on level terms. They did just that through midfield ace, No.6 Amirul Adli as he converted one of the many chances created by his team-mates.
Picking up their first point in the tournament, Singapore had their work cut out for them as they faced Timor Leste in their final match of the group. The Cubs worked harder in training and decided to go out with a bang for what could their final match together as a team.
And what a bang they created! They thrashed Timor Leste 8-1 in an impressive display of football that would put them in a class above all. Securing their only win, Singapore NFA U15 finished as the third placed team above Malaysia and Timor Leste respectively.
With the best third placed team in the East Zone place open for contention, the Cubs looked to making into the Final but it was not meant to be as Laos was given that slot based on goal difference.
Though they were out of the AFC U16 Championships, The Cubs have had an exciting 2011 with the Lion City Cup being their highlight as Singapore got together as a nation to support these young but amazingly talented boys on an international stage.
The journey has just begun for these boys and there is still a lot of room for them to grow, nurture their skills and become the next best thing in Singapore football.
Forward and beyond, Cubs also known as the NFA 1996 team!!!!!
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