Radojko Avramovic admits his Singapore side wasted their chances to find a winner in Saturday's 0-0 draw with Philippines in their AFF Suzuki Cup semi-final first leg.
By Gabriel Tan in Manila. espn
The result means the last-four clash is evenly poised ahead of next Wednesday's return encounter, although the Lions' failure to score a vital away goal means anything less than a win will see them eliminated if Philippines do find the net at the Jalan Besar Stadium.
nly a matter of time before they opened the scoring.
Captain Shahril Ishak could only fire wide, albeit at full stretch, in the 26th minute after Aleksandar Duric's fierce cross-cum-shot had beaten opposition keeper Eduard Sacapano, before the latter himself wasted a chance when he sent a close-range header at the far post wide nine minutes after the break.
Speaking after the game, Avramovic was left to lament his players' inability to put away the chances they have done so well to manufacture against a Philippines backline renowned for his stability.
"Generally, it was a good game between two good teams," he said. "Both sides played open football.
"But we were missing concentration in the first half because in that period, we should have scored.
"We came to try and win the game and we were attacking a lot, especially in the first half, and we deserved to score but we didn't."
Nonetheless, the Serb was quick to declare he was pleased with the work rate they had displayed, although he was far from impressed with the performance of referee Al Hilali Abduallah Mohamed Masoud, who dished out a host of cautions to the visitors.
"I really can't fault the players as they gave 100% but we didn't score and now we must look forward to the next game," Avramovic added.
"Although there was no concentration, this happens sometimes. Our players did a lot of running and I'm sure this affected them.
"At the last moment, they miss the decisive pass or shot, but we cannot blame them as they tried.
"I think in games likes this it [the referring decisions that went against them] happens, especially if some players behave like they are in theatre.
"I don't think the referee was at the same level today [Saturday]."
Even though Singapore's route to the final will be complicated further as long as the Azkals get an away goal in Wednesday's return leg, Avramovic believes the equation is still the same even though his side failed to score at the Rizal Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
"This is football," he said. "We didn't score but in the end we should be happy it's 0-0.
"This means it will be a good game in Singapore for us and Philippines. Nothing has changed.
"They didn't score and we didn't score, and Philippines and we will start the next game in the same position."
Avramovic refused to confirm if midfielder Shi Jiayi, who has left the squad to attend to a personal matter, will be back for Wednesday's game, while he also said he is unsure if the knock that Khairul Amri received towards the end of the game would make him an injury doubt.
No comments:
Post a Comment