April 1, 2004

World Cup Qualifying Group 3

Singapore	1	2	Japan
Indra Sahdan 63'			Naohiro Takahara 34' Toshiya Fujita 82'

India	1	5	Oman
Renedy Singh 13' (Penalty)			Imad Ali Suleiman 11' Mohammed Mubarak 26', 49' Badr Mubarak Al Maiman 59',88'

Singapore almost held Asia Champion Japan to a draw after star striker Indra Sahdan struck a goal in the second half to draw Singapore level with Japan with the Asian Champion having gone ahead in the first half through Naohiro Takahara.

Receiving a throw-in at the left flank, Indra Sahdan was guarded by 2 defenders but 1 of them was drawn away by Shahril Ishak allowing Indra Sahdan to cut in to wards the centre of the penalty box & beat the other defender guarding him. Still he was 25m away from goal but it did not matter to Singapore top striker as he fired a stunning shot which beat the Japanese goalkeeper.

After that, time was running out for Japan to get the winner as Singapore stubbornly refused to buck under the increasing Japan pressure.

However Japan finally got the winner when 8 minutes from the end, goalkeeper Hassan Sunny failed to punch a corner clear resulting in Toshiya Fujita blasting the loose ball into the net.

Still Singapore could have drawn level when substitute Ahmad Latiff had a shot that was saved the Japanese keeper towards the end as the Rams midfielder received the ball on the edge of the ball & with his back facing the goal, there was no threat whatsoever to Japan but the Rams midfielder turned brilliantly fooling his marker. He fired a shot as he was still turning & the ball curled towards goal but the Japanese keeper saved brilliantly & the ball went out for a corner.

With that Singapore last chance to gain the Republic opening point was lost.  

In the other Group 3 match India was crushed in front of their own home fans by an Oman onslaught. Oman scored 5 goals to India sole goal to extinguish any dreams India had before the match.

Singapore team: Hassan Sunny (GK), Baihakki Khaizan, S. Subramani, Aide Iskandar (C), Daniel Bennett, Ridhuan Muhamad, Nazri Nasir ( Ahmad Latiff, 46’), Shahril Ishak, Tan Kim Leng, Mirko Grabovac (Agu Casimir, 46’), Indra Sahdan (Noor Ali, 87’)

Next Round of World Cup Qualifying Group 3 matches

• Oman vs Singapore
• Japan vs India