Singapore vs Malaysia World Cup Qualifiers 2014 ; July 2011 all Goals

    This is the summary of all the goals from the First Leg between Singapore and Malaysia for the 2nd Round World Cup Qualifiers. To be honest, I did not watch either game live, because it was too tense, and I had other ongoing appointments, so only watched the highlights of both games from the news.Singapore had been having a horrible 2010, and had the entire National team disbanded in early 2011, so that new blood could be injected, while retaining the talented, team players. I have utmost respect for Alex Duric, a Bosnian Serb by birth and who has played in Singapore for more than 10 years, applied for Singapore citizenship twice before, got rejected twice, and only got his citizenship approved in 2008.He is 41 this year, and fighting fit. He scored 2 precious goals in the first leg and headed the ball down for the 2nd leg scorer Shi Jia Yi to equalise the game at Bukit Jalil and kill off any hopes for Malaysia to advance to the 3rd round. Kudos goes to Alex !

Another 2 players who deserve special mention are the goalkeeper (3rd choice) Iswan Mahbud (21 years), and Safuwan Baharuddin (19 years).They were thrown into the cauldron of Bukit Jalil with 90,000 screaming partisan fans,who were jeering at everything related to Singapore as well as water bottles and lasers. They performed like heroes and took everything which the Malaysian strike force could hit at them (literally). Never once lost their cool or cracked under pressure.

Well done Young Men !

It was sad to see some unsportsmanlike behaviour from the fans on the 2nd leg in Malaysia, such as shining of lasers on the goalkeeper's face as well as roughhouse tactics,like heavy tackling, on the young Singapore goalkeeper. However, the police at the Bukit Jalil stadium ensured there was absolutely no violence, so kudos go to them. Its a football match, not a prelude to war.

Finally, my utmost respect to 2 other people(s), the coach, 61 year old Raddy Abramovich from Serbia who since he came in 2004, has won 2 Asian Football Championships (2005 and 2007), 3rd place in SEA games and (now) twice into the 3rd round of the World Cup, once in 2007 and now in 2011.You are No. 1 in my game as coach. May we try our very very best to make it to the World Cup Finals ?!!

The last group of people are the Die Hard Singapore Fans. People of all races, ages and professions who love the Lions so much that they travel even into the cauldron which is Bukit Jalil and came out with their heads held high and never played mind games like the name calling, laser pointing and other unsportsmanlike behavior from the Malaysian 'fans'.

Truly, great ambassadors of the country we can be proud of. I salute every one of our players,coach, Die Hard Supporters. You make me so proud to be a Singaporean.

Onward Lions ! Majulah Singapura !