Recalibrate for Iraq and hope China win

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It’s time to move forward and look to the Iraq match at the Jalan Besar Stadium on Tuesday.

We can mope about poor officiating and gripe that Lebanese referee Andre El Haddad handed China a 2-1 win but Kunming is already gone for the Lions. Whether Australian match commissioner Phillip Brown’s match report or Hong Kong referee inspector Samuel Chan’s assessment of the refereeing of the match will affect El Haddad’s future in handling matches, it doesn’t matter anymore.

It won’t change the result of the match and that’s a fact. Rodojko Avramovic’s team lie third in Group A of the World Cup qualifiers after Jordan pulled off a 2-0 win in Iraq. We lie third and are ahead of the Iraqis on goal difference. And as much as we like to see China get their just deserts, we need them to beat Jordan convincingly in Amman, just hours after we host Iraq.

If that materialises, the Lions will jump to second in the group should they get the three points at Jalan Besar — a position if maintained until the end of all group matches will see them through to the fourth round of the World cup qualifiers for the first time in their history.

But it is not going to be an easy ride for Singapore. They need to be sharper than they were in Kunming when they face the Iraqis. For all their running, they were reckless with their passing, preferring to pump the ball up against the Chinese instead of passing and moving the ball forward. There was a certain fear and confidence was lacking there.

They have to recollect themselves on home soil because the depth of the squad has been hit with injuries. We have also lost Hariss Harun because of his National Service commitments and there is a likelihood goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud won’t be on the bench as well after his nasty ankle twist against China.

So, we may be stepping onto the Jalan Besar pitch with only a wing and a prayer to depend on. But Iraq, aren’t exactly without problems. They may have Brazil legend Zico to guide them, but like China’s Antonio Camacho, he only became coach of the side only late last month. And like the Spaniard, needs an interpreter to shout out instructions on the field. Perhaps that showed against Jordan on Friday.

Whether Singapore are able to exploit these, and whether Avramovic –consigned to the stands after his sending off at Kunming — is able to find an ingenious way of establishing communication with the team without running afoul of the rules are left to be seen.

But the Lions need to keep their heads cool, play the short passing game as they did against Malaysia in July and create the opportunities up front. Aleksander Duric isn’t the only one who can score and they have to remember this for 90 minutes.

But, more than ever before, they need their 12th man with them and the die-hard Singapore fans must turn out in force to play their part, or else all their complaints, if the Lions fall, will just be empty noises.