Sundram-moody
Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli sat down with the press for about 15 minutes last night.
Singapore coach V Sundramoorthy entered the media conference room, and then left before two minutes were up.
The Lions coach apologised to members of the media from the moment he made his appearance at the National Stadium last night, saying his team had already started training and that he wanted to join them as quickly as possible.
Sampaoli had the benefit of conducting his training session before he met the press.
Still, it was clear Sundram was in no mood to chat with the press following a disappointing 2-1 defeat by Taiwan in an Asian Cup qualifier at the Jalan Besar Stadium last Saturday.
His answers were short, and sharp.
"To play Argentina, I feel they are spirited. And I feel they are ready," he said, when asked how tough it was to lift his players' morale.
He was then asked how he would approach a game organised to mark the Football Association of Singapore's 125th anniversary?
"We are playing against a strong team (so) we will approach it tactically well," came the brisk reply.
But, what kind of performance was he looking from his team?
"Obviously we want to go out there and entertain," said Sundram, without skipping a beat.
"But we must be cautious because they are a world-class team."
At this point, the coach got up from his seat only to be asked one more question about the absence of Argentina superstar and five-time Ballon d'or winner Lionel Messi, who was granted permission to skip tonight's match to return home.
Said Sundram: "We'd love to have (been able to face) Messi because he can fill the stadium.
"I would also love to see him play but it's unfortunate he is not going to."
After a brief pause, Sundram said he "really had to go" and made a swift exit.
Bemused reporters looked at their audio recording devices to see that the entire conference had lasted about 55 seconds.
Perhaps, Sundram knows that after a result like the one against Taiwan, it's best to let their feet do the talking even if it's against the No. 2 ranked team in the world.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
