Singapore go down 0-2 to resilient Yemen side

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Goals by strikers Aiman Salleh and Mohammed Al Khadher gave Yemen a 2-0 victory over Singapore in the first leg of the Asian Round 1 Men’s Olympic Preliminary Competition at the Sheikh Khalifa International Stadium in Al-Ain, UAE.

The first chance of the match fell to the home side in the 7th minute after defender Shakir Hamzah handled the ball just 15 metres outside the Yemeni penalty box but Samer Hasan Sulaiman scuffed his free-kick just over Izwan Mahbud’s goal.

Minutes later, Izwan sprang into action with an acrobatic save from a thunderous Al Kader effort after some fine work down the left by Munassar Awadh.

Yemen broke the deadlock in the 38th minute after a defence splitting pass by Munassar found the path of lively forward Salleh who picked his spot with a well-placed finish leaving the oncoming Izwan with no chance.

Just before the break, Singapore hit Yemen on the counter attack with Fazli Ayob and Shahfiq Ghani working down the left to good effect before finding skipper Hariss Harun who teed off Izzdin Shafiq but the midfielder failed to force a save from Yemen custodian Shuhkri Salem.

Singapore began the second half with more intent as Coach Radojko Avramovic brought on Zulfahmi Arifin and Faris Ramli for Nigel Navin Vanu and Shahfiq Ghani.

The home side then doubled their lead in the 51th minute after an in-swinging cross by defender Hussein Ahmed caused confusion for the Singapore defence allowing the ball to fall directly into forward Al Khader for an easy finish.

Half time substitute Faris came close after finding himself with only the keeper to beat but headed his effort straight into the hands of Salem in the 61th minute.

Four minutes later the home side came close for the third after a through ball by Shamer Hassan found Al Khader but Izwan hurried out bravely to prevent the Yemenis from increasing their lead.

Singapore had a worthy penalty claim in the 82th minute after Faris was brought down in the box by Ammar Abdullah but Korean referee Lee Min Hu was unmoved.

With minutes running down on the clock, Singapore created perhaps their best chance of the match after Shakir Hamzah floated in a dangerous across from the left flank for Fazli Ayob who headed the ball precisely for Hariss but the 20-year-old saw his header glaze agonisingly over the Yemen goal.

Said Avramovic: “In some way, I expected this result because we faced a Yemeni team with many good individual players who were very motivated and they deserved to win tonight but we helped them with our careless passing.

"Those two goals came from our mistakes and they finished well. We could have scored at least one goal which would have made a big difference for second game. It will be hard but we must try.

"We have been practising to be more attacking (in traning) but Yemen pressed us hard and made it difficult to keep the ball in their half.

But I believe that there is one more game to play. Having seen them (Yemen) play, I hope our players will play more freely and creatively without making or conceding mistakes”

Singapore Line-up: Izwan Mahbud, Yasir Hanapi, Shakir Hamzah, Shahir Hamzah, Afiq Yunos, Nazrul Ahmad Nazari (Safirul Sulaiman 66’), Hariss Harun, Izzdin Shafiq, Navin Nigel Vanu (Zulfahmi Afirin 45’), Shahfiq Ghani (Faris Ramli 45’), Fazli Ayob