Lions go down 1-2 to World Cup team

Singapore went down 1-2 to DPR Korea, who had played in the June Wolrd Cup, in the VFF Cup match at My Dinh stadium, Hanoi.

The Lions had found their rhythm as the game wore on and were duly rewarded with Aleksander Duric’s 12th goal for Singapore. The veteran forward latched onto a defence splitting cross by Shi Jiayi in the 41st minute with a diving header to give Singapore the lead heading into the break.

DPR Korea found the equaliser courtesy of midfielder Ri Myoung Jun nine minutes before time. A lapse of concentration in the dying seconds of the game allowed the Koreans to creep in the winner. Striker Al Il Bom’s excellent first touch was just enough to get pass defender Daniel Bennett before smashing his effort through the roof of the net.

Coach Radojko Avramovic, who gave international debuts to four new players in tonight’s match, was satisfied with the result.

“I was happy that we managed to head into half time with the lead but in the end Korea DPR deserved their win. They dominated in the second half and physically had a better level of fitness than us. It was very good experience for some of the players, who are travelling here for the first time and now they have some international experience under their belt.” said Avramovic.

VFF Cup

Singapore 1-2 North Korea

Scorer - Aleksandar Duric

Singapore: Lionel Lewis, Daniel Bennett, Juma'at Jantan, Rosman Sulaiman (Hamqaamal Shah 90’), Isa Halim (Razaleigh Khalik 52’), Ruzaini Zainal (Masrezwan Masturi 46’), Shi Jiayi, Tengku Mushadad, Adrian Dhanaraj (Noh Rahman 55’), Aleksandar Duric (C), Sufian Anuar (Fazrul Nawaz 46’)