Ravula Raised
Today was a great day for Farmer Bunnies talent
Amaya Ravula, who won his first youth cap in a 2-1 win over Oceania in the opener of the Asia and Oceania Cup, hosted by Saudi Arabia. The Group G game saw FC Vlasma's Leigh Kreutz break out in the 21st, as Ravula came agonizingly close to a fairytale introduction with his stretch header earlier on, that was barely warded off by Shayne Dutton.
Singapore would level up through Sreyank Dandu on a calmly-executed counter eight minutes after Kreutz's strike, and despite Kerehi Conlon's menacing the Lions backline on his many forays, it was Joker 9's Tay Fu Yew who decided it with a fierce grounder 70 minutes in. Cam Hutton appeared in with a shot with seven minutes remaining, but held out for the perfect angle a moment too long.
Ravula was simply delighted to serve, even as he bemoaned his miss. "I was supposed to defend from the front as my main duty, but even then, who doesn't want to score for his country?"
Leri Bezhanishvili too received a recall as he earned his sixth youth cap against Jordan in the same competition, which was marred by a ninth minute yellow card for dissent. He wouldn't make much of a splash for the rest of the match, which to be fair turned out to be a bit of a bore, with neither team willing to take risks.
