Singapore - AFF Champions for a record 4th time. Bravo !!

                                         AFF Suzuki Cup 2012 Champions - Singapore 

           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 

         I am an armchair critic, and supporter, so I have my share of eating humble pie. But as a Singaporean, I am proud that once again,the team defied all odds and beat the higher ranked ASEAN teams in the following manner : Singapore is ranked a lowly 154 out of 195 teams worldwide, below that of Vietnam,Thailand and the Philippines.

    Round Robin Stage
   ------------------------------
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
    -------------------------------------

a)  Philippines   ; Away 0 - 0.   Home 1 - 0.   Scorer of critical goals Khairul Amri scored a cracker. What a crucial goal !

    Finals vs Thailand
    --------------------------
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 !!