Singapore coach V. Sundramoorthy disappointed with early exit

Singapore suffered another early exit from the AFF Suzuki Cup after falling 2-1 to Indonesia in their last matchday of the tournament.

The Lions failed to hold on to their 1-0 first half lead against Indonesia and fell to the Garuda’s late winner in the second half, despite an already-qualified Thailand team did them a favor by beating Philippines 1-0 in the other match.

This mean Singapore finished bottom of the group A with just one point from three matches, while Indonesia finished second with four points. Co-hosts finished third with two points, while Thailand finished first with a perfect record.

“We took the lead and were confident that we could keep it, but things went on another way. Our marking in the box was a little bit off, we had a chance to win but we couldn’t keep it”, V. Sundramoorthy rued his defenders who allowed Andik Vermansah and Stefano Lilipaly to score in the second half.

“We were coping well until the cross [that lead to the equalizer]. Overall, the boys have done well until the last minute”, he said.

Meanwhile, Indonesia coach Alfred Riedl said he was satisfied with his players’ performance.

“It was a good match, especially in the second half. We are the better team today”, the Austrian manager told reporters.

“We are only allowed to take two players from each club and we’re lucky to have found very talented players. This team is full of young footballers, and they are the future of Indonesian football”, he added.