Asean Cup: Lions' narrow win leaves coach 'not satisfied'

Tsutomu Ogura is “not satisfied” with the cautious display by the Singapore Lions, after they opened their Asean Championship campaign with a narrow 2-1 win over Cambodia at the National Stadium on Dec 11.

The candid coach was quick to take responsibility for the lacklustre performance that saw the hosts beaten in terms of possession (46 per cent), shots (4 against 15), corners (0-4) and pass accuracy (74-80 per cent) in their Group A match.

Malaysia lead the group with four points after coming from behind to beat bottom side Timor-Leste 3-2 in Kuala Lumpur.

Defending champions Thailand, who trounced Timor-Leste 10-0 on Dec 8, are second with three points, ahead of the Lions on goal difference, while Cambodia are fourth with one point.

At the post-match press conference, the 58-year-old Ogura said: “I’m not satisfied because we trained for many things like building up our football. So I don’t know why we were playing too many long balls and careful balls. We were better in training, but suddenly, in the game, it didn’t work.

“Okay, we got the three points, and the players gave a good fight and there will be lessons learnt. But on the football side, we need more improvements. This is my responsibility, not the players. I need to see how to communicate, how to conduct the training and meetings, and this is my fault.”

Before the match, former Singapore coach Radojko Avramovic and some of the players who won the 2004 championship, the first of three titles under the Serb, were paraded before the 12,391 fans.

Inspired by the 20th anniversary of the triumph, the Lions made the brighter start and got two early goals courtesy of calamitous slip-ups by Cambodia custodian Vireak Dara.

In the ninth minute, his horrendous shank was punished by Faris Ramli for his 14th goal on his 84th cap. Seven minutes later, his weak pass to a defender was polished off by Shawal Anuar, who also grabbed his 14th goal in 38 international appearances.

Dara made amends when he prevented Shahdan Sulaiman’s free kick from creeping into the bottom corner in the 25th minute, and despite showing hunger and desire to challenge for the ball, the Lions failed to create clear openings for the rest of the match.

Japanese Ogura noted: “When we were leading 2-0, we stopped. We need to learn from Thailand... even when they were leading (Timor-Leste) 6-0, they were taking the ball to the centre circle.

“This is their winning mentality, and we must learn from them. If we play like this (tonight), the next game will also be very hard for us.”

Much has been made about the visitors, who held Malaysia to a 2-2 draw in Phnom Penh on Dec 8, as they fielded five of the seven naturalised players in their ranks for the tournament, now known as the Mitsubishi Electric Cup.

But it was their local-born players who made the bigger impact, especially down the wings.

Sieng Chanthea was rewarded for his persistence when he swept past Izwan Mahbud in the 59th minute, after Sa Ty beat Christopher van Huizen on the right flank.

Then they almost scored when the otherwise-reliable Safuwan Baharudin’s casual back pass found Hav Soknet in the 69th minute, but Izwan stood tall to deny the substitute.

A horrific-looking injury to Cambodia’s South Africa-born skipper Kan Mo after a clash of heads with substitute Taufik Suparno a minute later took the sting out of the game, as the Lions survived some late scares to ride out the rest of the match.

Cambodia coach Koji Gyotoku said: “Singapore gave us hard pressure, and some of our players were afraid to hold the line. I don’t think we were unlucky not to get at least a point, because Singapore were the better team.”

It was not a sentiment that Faris shared, as he echoed the need for improvement. The 32-year-old forward said: “It takes two hands to clap. The coach gives the instructions, but we players need to take responsibility too. We need to take what we learn from training and convert it to game performance.

“The boys know this and we are frustrated at ourselves. We know that this is not good enough if we want to go all the way.”

Singapore will travel to Hanoi to take on Timor-Leste on Dec 14, before a home game against the Thais on Dec 17. They will wrap up their group campaign with an away match at Malaysia on Dec 20.