Photo: Jeremy Lee/Sport Singapore

 

SINGAPORE, 9 MAY 2022 – The Singapore Men’s Under-23 National Team lost 5-0 to 16-time champions Thailand in their second Group B match of the 31^st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games at the Thien Truong Stadium, Nam Dinh.

 

Having resisted Thailand’s efforts for most of the first-half on Monday evening, the team was about to go into the break with the score tied. However, the referee awarded the Thais a dubious penalty deep into extra time and Benjamin Davis calmly converted the spot-kick.

 

Harhys Stewart scored an unfortunate own goal in the 47^th minute to compound matters and the Thais controlled the game after, scoring three more goals – twice from Ekanit Panya and one from substitute Korawich Tasa.

 

Head Coach Nazri Nasir said after the match: “I told the boys after the game that we are still in the tournament. We have two more games to play and the table is quite even. These games are do-or-die and we need to win both matches to give us a fighting chance to qualify. This game is over, we must learn from the experience and we must start to focus on the next two games from this moment. We must start thinking ahead and the first thing we need to do is to recover well.

 

“To the fans back home, tonight’s result is not ideal but we need your support now more than ever for the next two crucial games. We are still in this and knowing that you guys are behind us will give us an extra boost.”

 

Singapore next face Cambodia on Wednesday, 11 May at 5pm SGT.

 

Singapore: Zaiful Nizam (GK)(C), Harith Kanadi (Nur Adam 53′), Ryaan Sanizal, Harhys Stewart, Ryhan Stewart (Arshad Shamim 85′), Syahrul Sazali, Shah Shahiran, Zulfahmi Arifin, Joel Chew (Glenn Kweh 46′), Khairin Nadim (Irfan Najeeb 68′), Zikos Chua (Jordan Emaviwe 53′).
Unused subs: Ridhwan Fikri (GK), Jared Gallagher, Nicky Melvin Singh.

 

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