Caps For Three
Several players from Grilled Birds and Farmer Bunnies were awarded their first international cap as the Young Lions bowed out of the U21 Nations Cup, after they missed out on a place in the knockout stages with five wins, five draws and six defeats with one final fixture left. This would be against Luxembourg, who hammered the new-look Singaporean team - made almost wholly up of debutants on the world stage - by four goals to nil. Marina Sailors' Lee Tze Yew was the odd one out, having already got a cap, while Luxembourg would lose Humberto Carlos Carneiro towards the end, after dominating the second half.
Lim An Keng definitely was not complaining, having been given the honour of captaining the side out, and he did manage a few stylish exchanges with club buddy
Mohd Marzuki Khairul, even if they came to naught. The Buns'
Amirul Jufri Khairil lasted 47 minutes at leftback, before the Singapore coaching staff decided to take him off for another striker in Heng Chuan Chao, being three goals down by then. No miracle was forthcoming, though Luxembourg didn't exactly take advantage, if largely down to heroics by Hachiman Hoppers' Fang Ze Ting in goal.
"Personally, I would have wished it were another way for my first game for Singapore, but this team had never played together before this, so it was to be expected." Lim commented. "After a bit more time to get used to each other, this squad could be much better."
