The pundits predicted that Singapore's National Football (Soccer) team, headed by Raddy Abrahamovic would not make it past the Qualifying Stages, well, the so-called experts were so wrong again. All of us who had put down the Singapore Lions as being old has - beens relying on foreign born players to win games for us have to eat humble pie and shut up. The Singapore Lions won the 2012 Asean Football Federation Cup for a record 4th time. Congratulations to the team !!
Coach and Manager : Ratko (Raddy) Avramovic
Goalkeeper : Mohammad Izwan bin Mahmud
Defenders : Daniel Mark Bennett
Baihakki Kaizan
Jumaat bin Jantan
Moh'd Shaiful Esah
Moh'd Safuwan Baharudin
Midfielders : Hariss Harun
Mustafaric Fahruddin
Shahdan bin Sulaiman
Shahril Ishak (Captain)
Strikers : Alexander Duric
Fazrul Nawaz
Moh'd Khairul Amri
Shahril Ishak winning Most Valuable Player of the 2012 AFF Suzuki tournament
Round Robin Stage
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a) Malaysia (the Old Enemy) : 3 - 0 away. What a great start to humiliate the Tigers at their Home Turf. Sharil Ishak, Captain Fantastic hit a brace (2) and Alex Duric the other.
Alexander Duric, I must add is an amazingly fit and skillfull 42 years of age !
b) Indonesia : 0 - 1 away. Everyone came down to earth. So we lost, the last game wamaybe just a fluke ?
c) Laos : 4 - 3. What a thriller, after going down 2 - 0, the boys had the guts and talent to score 4 goals on the trot, and hang on to win 4 -3.
Sharil Ishak (2), Khairul Amri and Hariss Harun were the heroes.
SemiFinals vs Phillipines
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a) Philippines ; Away 0 - 0. Home 1 - 0. Scorer of critical goals Khairul Amri scored a cracker. What a crucial goal !
Finals vs Thailand
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a) Thailand : Home 3 - 1 Scorers Mustafaric (penalty), Khairul Amri's world class goal and Baikkaki Kaizan's 90th minute were the gems of the day.
Thailand Away 0 - 1
Singapore prevailed in the pressure cooker last game against Thailand to win the Cup 3 - 2 on aggregate. In my opinion, the entire team were excellent playing as a team,strong defensively, as well as controlling play with their passing with flashes of individual brilliance when needed by their country. This is the hallmark of a Champion team. I am righfully proud of our South East Asian Kampung (village) champions !!
AFF Champions 2012 !! Lets work towards greater things Singapore Lions !!
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