Dark skies made the crowd of 72500 at
Hab Sukan Singapura a little nervous, but the rain held off.
Agostinho Braz was the appointed referee with assistance provided by
Hanns Eigl and
Rudolf Vihar.
Ambush's starters:
Stacey -
Su Yi,
Loong Choon,
Pham -
Abdul Hakim,
Jin,
Kok Hui,
El Omda,
Rong Yeng -
Tai,
Qiang Ze.
Grilled's lineup was:
Marcol -
Himadas,
其材 (Qicai) -
Reddy,
Khairul,
長野 (Nagano),
Teck Fu,
El Khateeb -
Thach,
Chitre,
An Keng.
Ambush F.C. started the game in a 3-5-2 formation, whereas
Grilled Birds lined up in a 2-5-3 formation.
Grilled tried to focus their attacks down the middle, taking advantage of their
divine (+3) level with that tactic.
Ambush were very close to putting themselves one up after 2 minutes as
Jimmy Pham got through on the left. However, his concentration failed him, and he shot wide. 7 minutes in,
Ambush's
Cai Loong Choon received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first.
Ambush's
Mahmoud El Omda tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but couldn't get past the visitors' defenders. 20 minutes had elapsed when a great chance for
Ambush to take the lead after a good cross from the right found
Liew Qiang Ze alone with the keeper, but he chipped it to the wrong side of the post. After the game, the most discussed event will probably be the penalty given after 22 minutes that gave the visitors the 0 - 1 lead. Despite the controversy,
Raúl Himadas struck home the penalty, as cool as anything. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 1. Possession in this half belonged to
Ambush, who controlled the ball 57 percent of the time.
46 minutes into the match, the referee signalled for a
Grilled substitution.
Aw Keng Chuan came on for
夏 (Ha) 其材 (Qicai). As the captain was no longer on the pitch,
元気 (Genki) 長野 (Nagano) took over the role of being the
Grilled captain. With a shot curled in from just outside the middle of the penalty area after 55 minutes played,
Mahmoud El Omda of
Ambush made the score 1 - 1. The home crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief when
Brian 'Was Born' Reddy was unable to put the ball in the net after his show of skill down the left 56 minutes into the match. He was seen beating the pitch in frustration at missing such a good chance to give his team the lead!
Mahmoud El Omda caused the crowd to go mental with his goal up the middle after 57 minutes. This gave
Ambush the 2 - 1 lead. Cheers filled the stadium as
Wil 'Lobo' Tai broke through the visitors' central defence to put away the ball to increase the lead to 3 - 1 to
Ambush.
Raúl Himadas would have preferred to play on, but his coach decided otherwise.
Damian Hutter entered the game for
Grilled as the match clock showed 89 minutes. With
Raúl Himadas no longer on the pitch,
元気 (Genki) 長野 (Nagano) took over free kick duty. The referee announced 1 minute of stoppage time, giving fans a slim hope that their team could get one more attack in before this was all over. The match ends 3 - 1.
Ambush enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 57 percent of possession.
Ambush's top performer was clearly
Mahmoud El Omda. Most important
Grilled player was
Gandhik Chitre.