Tsutomu Ogura’s first match in charge of the Singapore national football team has left fans with some level of hope.
On 21 March, before more than 28,000 fans at the National Stadium, his half time pep talk, and two master stroke substitutions allowed the Lions to pull off a remarkable 2-2 draw against a China side which is ranked 88 in the world, with the Lions goals both coming through substitutes Faris Ramli and Jacob Mahler, in the second half.
Singapore, on the other end of the spectrum, is currently holding steady at 156.
And even with a draw against an opponent which ran out 6-1 winners the last time the two teams met in 2013, Ogura wondered why he was being congratulated.
“Somebody told me (after the match), ‘congratulations’. I asked why? I am not satisfied,” he told The Straits Times in the post-match media conference.
“I told the players this also.
“Please don’t (tell me) congratulations.
“If we got another goal, that is congratulations.”
BEST RESULTS SINCE 2015?
The Lions win against China is possibly Singapore’s best result in a competitive match since a 0-0 draw against Japan in Saitama in 2015.
But on a night when China could well have been subdued, the possibility of victory was not lost on Ogura, in only his first game in charge.
“Of course, China is a good team and it was difficult but we had chances to win,” he told The Straits Times.
“In the last five to 10 minutes, we could have won.”
For fans, the half time score gave quite a few a sense of PTSD, with many around us wondering what was going to be the final outcome and how many more would Singapore get hit by.
Never mind that Hassan Sunny had already did what he could to keep the score scaleable with a penalty save in the first half.
LIONS FTW IN CHINA?
With a point in the bag in Group C, there appears to be an air of confidence, brought about by Ogura’s tactical nous.
Said Ryhan Stewart, “We are going to go for the three points in China,” he told The Straits Times.
“Today I felt that we could have kept going and got the three points too.
“But that’s the way the game is and we’ve got to keep going.”
MAIN PHOTO: FAS