The Singapore Under-23 team was held 1-1 by the Botswana Under-23 team at an international friendly held at the Jalan Besar Stadium on Wednesday evening.

The visitors from Southern Africa stunned the home crowd when forward Molgakolodi Ngele looped a shot from 30 yards out, catching the Singapore defence and goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud stranded just two minutes after kickoff.

The Singaporeans had a golden opportunity to equalise three minutes later, when referee P Pandian awarded them a freekick at the corner of the 6-yard box, after opposite goalkeeper Kabelo Dambe was judged to have handled a backpass.

After successfully preventing Shahfiq Ghani from restoring parity for the home side by packing in front of their own net with numbers, the Batswana attempted to surprise with another long shot again, but this time round Kgaodi Odirile’s blast was off target.

Not to be outwitted, Singapore recovered the deficit at 12th minute through Nazrul Ahmad Nazari, who connected well to Zulfahmi Mohd Arifin’s through pass and outran his markers to send the ball into the back of the net.

Singapore Under-23 assistant coach Terry Pathmanathan was pleased at how the goal was created.

“I thought it was a well-executed goal. The players were able to see a situation like that to time the pass. The passes were neat and the movements were well-timed. Nazrul showed a lot of maturity in keeping his composure to finish off well, and Zulfahmi showed good touches with a lot of promise and potential to move up.”

Defensive errors allowed Ngele’s strike partner Aubrey Kebonnetse to sneak in a shot which hit the side netting, but the Singapore side managed to find openings at the other half of the pitch too, seeing Geylang United’ s Yasir Hanapi sending in a looping cross which forced Dambe to push away.

A goalmouth scramble at the 38th minute almost caused the Cubs to fall behind again. Following a freekick near the corner outside the penalty box, the ball was left bobbling around in the area as both sets of players struggled to put it away.

Eventually, it was the crossbar which saved the home team as it reflected the ball away from the danger zone into the path of Zulfahmi, whom on a quick counterattacking move, passed it on to Shahfiq, but the latter failed to make anything good out of the effort.

The ability to create chances was well demonstrated, at one instance Irwan Shah managing to break free to cross into the box, but more was to be desired from the finishing as half-time substitute Fairoz Hasan failed to connect with a header.

Tampines Rovers’ Firdaus Kasman was next in action, coming close to the goal line from an acute angle, but the late first half substitute for Zulfahmi could only muster his effort straight into Dambe.

As the visitors slowed down their pace, as their coach Odirile Mathlaku revealed post-match was due to the hot weather, they did not let off any opportunities to take the lead again, hitting the crossbar with a freekick attempt by Galabgwe Moyana on 76th minute.

However, the Cubs were able to carve out more openings for themselves too, alas Fairoz was not composed enough to finish off Haniff Ja'ffar Sadique well-placed pass.

A last minute surge was not enough for the home side to claim victory, as Haniff was unable to capitalize on an open goal after getting past surrounding defenders when Dambe came off his line in an attempt to stop him.

Despite the inability to come out tops, there were still positives to take from this friendly, according to Pathmanathan.

“It was a good run-out for the boys, especially when this time round we have quite a number of very young players. Some of them did exceptionally well, for example Safuwan (Baharudin), Madhu (Mohana), Nazrul; I thought they really did well by their own standards.

“A few of them could be a little nervous because this is an international exposure for them, but more importantly is their willingness to put in the effort in the game to lift up their level of play.

“We still need to improve on our movement upfront, but we created quite a number of chances. We couldn’t show the ability to strike when given the opportunity to. If we don’t take our chances well we have to work harder to finish off the chances we created.”

Pathmanathan also acknowledged that the opponent provided a good challenge and exposed them to several aspects that they could improve on.

“The Botswana team is technically not a bad team. They put in a lot of physical play into their game, and it lifted our players’ level of play. It is good for our boys to come into contact with physical players if we are looking at international games.

“The players know what to expect at least for now when they are playing at international level. The pace of the game is faster, the opponent is able to keep possession of the ball well, and how we can counter them. We cannot allow too much for the opponent to keep possession of the ball. This is one area which I thought is very important learning curve for these boys.

“Likewise, the boys must learn how to keep possession of the ball when we have it. This game is an eye opener where the importance of possession is concerned for these young boys.

“Some of them made hurried passes and they were a little impatient. They need to be show more composure with the ball, get their positioning right, and improve on the reading of the game. They have to gradually learn from this kind of matches and to appreciate more possession, but it was a good challenge they put up against a team like this that showed more maturity.”

Nevertheless, Pathmanathan was optimistic of the players’ performance and believed they could only improve.

“These boys are young; they are playing Prime League and then they are suddenly pushed four or five levels up, but the signs are good; the boys lived up to what we expected from them.

“It is a very good chance for us to broaden the base of players, to introduce as many players as possible. When the time comes for the SEA Games, we will have the numbers to scrutinize and carefully select and maximize their play.”
As with his counterparts, Botswana Under-23 coach Mathlaku was also looking at the friendly as an opportunity to broaden his squad’s horizon.

“The Singapore Under-23 team definitely provided a good test. I wish we can have more of this. This is the first time these players play outside Africa.

“We are participating in a tournament organized by the Council of Southern Africa Football Association which will be played in December, against teams like South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Swaziland, so we are preparing for this tournament.”

Mathlaku also revealed that Singapore’s captain Hariss Harun impressed him the most, “He dictated the middle of field and showed good techniques and tactics.”

Match details can be found here