December 10, 2004

Both Indonesia coach Peter Withe & Singapore counterpart Raddojko Avramovic concur that their 0-0 at the Thong Nhat Stadium was the proverbial ‘game of two halves’.

Peter Withe lamented it was a game of two halves really & it was very frustrating watching his side in the first half.

He felt that it was his side’s inability to deal with the strategy of the 1998 Tiger Cup champions that made it difficult for his players to repeat the same attacking verve they displayed against Laos.

That was why at half time he had made a few harsh remarks to the players, as he felt disappointed with the way they played in the first half.

Still he credited Singapore for the tough fight & felt his team have to learn to play against different systems.

He lamented Singapore had put them under pressure with long balls & cross field passes.

In all he was not happy with the draw as he always want to win but it was a fair result if one look at both halves.

Similarly Avramovic was not happy with the draw as he acknowledged whether the draw was good or not good for Singapore.

However all they could do were to win both our next games & it might be the number of goals scored that makes the difference in the end.

Even then Avramovic greed with all Peter With points & accepted it was a game of two halves.

He said we were very disciplined in the first half & created 2 good opportunities but in the end we were lucky to survive the 2 chances they had near the end. Both teams wanted to win but there was just no breakthrough.

With that Singapore now take a rest until December 13 when we faced Laos while Indonesia meet Vietnam & this match could well decided if Singapore make it through to the semi-final stage.