December 30, 2004

Tiger Cup semi-final, first leg (Malaysia)

Myanmar	3	4	Singapore
Soe Myat Min 34’, 90’ Min Thu 36’			Daniel Bennett 20 Agu Casmir 38 Noh Alam Shah 63’ Shahril Ishak 81’

Singapore took a step closer to the Tiger Cup final after Agu Casmir with his best game thus far for Singapore edge past combative Myanmar 4-3 in the Tiger Cup semi-final first leg clash.

Myanmar had the first real chance of the match when lone striker Yan Paing laid the ball into the path of Soe Myat Min but his swerving drive was blocked by Singapore custodian Lionel Lewis. As the game progress Myanmar took control of the game & Lewis had to be called into action again as Myanmar threatened the Singapore defence. Aung Kyaw Moe received the ball on the right and the midfielder whipped in an inviting cross for his Finance & Revenue teammate Yan Paing but his bullet header was superbly palmed over the bar by the 1.88m Lewis.

Now against the run of play, Singapore took the lead when a poor clearance went straight to Daniel Bennett & as the England-born defender returned it with interest from 35 yards out, the ball ricocheted off a luckless Myanmar defender, wrong-footing keeper Aung Aung Oo on its way into the net.

Despite going ahead Singapore failed to control the game allowing Myanmar to continued it dominance but the Republic stood firm & it appeared the miserly defence of Singapore was enough to hold the lead the lead until half-time until a crazy phrase of the game.

3 goals in the space of 4 minutes saw the sides go into the break locked at 2-2. Soe Myat Min headed his third of the tournament after 34 minutes when he ghosted in behind the ball-watching Bennett to nod home Yan Paing's inch-perfect cross to bring Myanmar back on level terms. Then Myanmar, who was appearing in the semi-final stage of the Tiger Cup for the first time in their history, took the lead in spectacular fashion when Min Thu announced his candidature for goal of the tournament. A needless free-kick was given away by Itimi Dickson out on the left wing & with Lewis expecting the ball to be whipped into the box, Min Thu thundered the ball over the flailing hand of the Singapore keeper into the top corner. But the scoring didn't end there & Singapore's leveler came when the Young Lions pair of Itimi Dickson & Agu Casmir combined to exploit some slack Myanmar defending. A fluffed clearance spun into the path of Dickson who was able to chip the ball to the unmarked Agu Casmir, who scored with the simplest of headers.

In the second period, Myanmar coach Ivan Kolev brought on Myo Hlaing Win for the ineffectual Bo Bo Aung five minutes after the restart, hoping that the 31-year-old, who is his country's top scorer in the Tiger Cup with eight goals, will lend vast experience but it was the Republic that roared into the lead.

With the Myanmar continuing to make mistakes, Agu Casmir took advantage as he caught a Myanmar defender cold as the defender failed to clear the ball allowing Agu to steal the ball on the flank. Agu then went speed past the defender & crossed back to Noh Alam Shah, in for the suspended Indra Sahdan, to slot home Singapore's third.

Singapore extended their advantage with 10 minutes remaining as Myanmar started to lose both their shape & discipline.

Kyaw khing Win fouled Alam Shah & quite how the Myanmar 20-year-old defender remained on the pitch for a vicious stamp on the Singapore forward only Thai referee Rungklay Mongkol will know. But Singapore were rewarded when Shahril Ishak swung in the resulting free-kick which went past the Myanmar keeper as Agu Casmir jumped in front distracting the Myanmar keeper.

Still the scoring didn't end there as Myanmar's skipper Soe Myat Min pulled one back in injury time as the ball was pumped in & it was allowed to bounce by Noh Rahman & he pay for it as the ball lob over him to Soe Myat Min who fired it in.

Singapore team- Lionel Lewis (GK) S. Subramani, Baihakki Khaizan, Aide Iskandar (C), Daniel Bennett; Shahril Ishak, Hasrin Jailani, Goh Tat Chuan (Ishak Zainol, 63’) Itimi Dickson, Indra Sahdan (Ridhuan Muhamad, 75’), Agu Casmir (Khairul Amri, 52’)