Singaporean newspaper comments on home team's painful defeat against Vietnam
Báo Dân trí•27/12/2024
(Dan Tri) - Many Singaporean newspapers expressed their pain when their team lost to the Vietnamese team in extra time. At the same time, they spoke out against referee Kim Woo Sung for his controversial decision.
Tien Linh, Xuan Son score late, Vietnam team defeats Singapore
The Singapore team caused many difficulties for the Vietnamese team when playing at home at Jalan Besar Stadium in the first leg of the AFF Cup 2024 semi-finals. The home team played resiliently and held the "Golden Star Warriors" to a draw until the 90+10 minute. However, two goals by Tien Linh and Nguyen Xuan Son in the extra minutes caused Singapore to suffer defeat.
Singaporean press said that the home team suffered a painful defeat against the Vietnamese team (Photo: Tuan Bao). This defeat puts Singapore in a difficult position. The team from the Lion Island needs to win by a margin of 3 goals or more in the rematch at Viet Tri Stadium on December 29 to have a ticket to the final of the AFF Cup 2024. After the match, the Singaporean press expressed pain when witnessing the home team's defeat. They also spoke out against referee Kim Woo Sung for the controversial decision. The Straits Times wrote: "Pain as Singapore loses to Vietnam after VAR incident". The author commented: "The team in the Lion Island suffered two painful blows on Boxing Day (December 26) and lost 0-2 to the Vietnamese team in the first leg of the 2024 AFF Cup semi-finals. Coach Tsutomu Ogura said that his team was unlucky but needed to improve their endurance, concentration and stability. After conceding the first goal in the 90+10 minute, Singapore continued to suffer another painful blow in the 90+14 minute. This is extremely regrettable. The tragedy of conceding two goals in a row in injury time is similar to the match against Thailand. Not only that, the Singapore team also suffered resentment because of the referee's decision. After putting continuous pressure in the second half, Singapore should have been awarded a penalty in the 80th minute. Ho Tan Tai appeared to have fouled Faris Ramli in the penalty area. However, referee Kim Woo Sung denied the penalty after consulting VAR. Singaporean media protested against the referee, saying they deserved a penalty after Faris Ramli fell after being tackled by Tan Tai (Screenshot). The Korean referee did not explain further about this decision. Singapore captain Hariss Harun said that the team had been robbed of a goal. However, VAR later caused the Vietnamese team pain when it denied Xuan Son's goal because it was thought that this player let the ball touch his hand before finishing. Singapore could have won if Taufik Suparno's shot had not been denied by Dinh Trieu in the nick of time. The tragedy that happened in the extra minutes made the chances of coach Tsutomu Ogura's team to continue very slim. CNA commented: "The two goals of the Vietnamese team in the extra minutes sank Singapore. Coach Tsutomu Ogura's team must face a big challenge in the second leg. The situation leading to the penalty kick of the Vietnamese team in the 10th minute of extra time caused a lot of controversy. After that, Tien Linh took advantage of the 11m penalty kick to score the opening goal. Taking advantage of Singapore's lack of concentration, Xuan Son scored the winning goal for Vietnam 2-0 in the 90+14 minute. Xuan Son was Singapore's biggest threat in this match. Coach Tsutomu Ogura arranged for Lionel Tan to mark the Brazilian striker but could not neutralize it. In the first half, Xuan Son had a diving kick that hit the crossbar of Singapore's goal. Then, in the second half, Xuan Son had a perfect shot into the Singapore net but the goal was disallowed due to a handball. The turning point in this match was when substitute Shakir Hamzah fell down and touched his hand in the penalty area before Xuan Son's tackle in extra time." The situation where Dinh Trieu denied Taufik Suparno's shot with his fingertips (Photo: Tuan Bao). The Singapore version of Berita Harian emphasized: "Despite the defeat, the performance of the Singapore players in the match against the Vietnamese team was very proud. They created a dramatic match against a stronger opponent and only lost in the extra time." Meanwhile, the Singapore version of ESPN used the word "painful" to describe the home team's defeat. They said that Singapore had a positive performance when there were many times when they were much better than the Vietnamese team and were very close to scoring when Taufik Suparno's shot forced goalkeeper Dinh Trieu to use his fingertips to block it. ESPN was also not satisfied with referee Kim Woo Sung. They said that the Korean "king in black" created two controversial situations. The first was the situation when Faris Ramli fell in a sensitive position (near the penalty area) of the Vietnamese team after being tackled by Tan Tai. Then, when Xuan Son was denied a super goal into the Singapore net because of a handball. The second leg of the semi-final between the Vietnamese and Singapore teams took place at 8:00 p.m. on December 29 at Viet Tri Stadium (Phu Tho).
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