In his first international match in charge Papua New Guinea coach Wynton Rufer was positive about the result.
“Despite losing, and I hate losing, I am pretty satisfied with the result,” the Oceania Player of the Century says.
“I felt that Singapore clearly underestimated us, and I was building on our boys to be more aggressive. The two goals we let in were soft goals but I was happy with the performance. The players showed good team spirit.
Singapore coach Bernd Stange took advantage of the friendly occasion to give five young players their debut as he goes through the final preparations for the end-of-year ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup.
Despite being ranked 48 places higher than their opponents Papua New Guinea, who were playing their first international game since 2012, Singapore – ranked 152nd – got off to a nervous start.
The Oceania side caused two goal-mouth scares in the first seven minutes that forced Singapore goalkeeper Hassan Sunny into early action.
However the tables turned for the visitors as Singapore’s diminutive striker Sahil Suhaimi calmed the host’s nerves with a brilliant individual effort in the 23rd minute that thrilled the 1,748 fans.
Suhaimi dribbled past three Papua New Guinea defenders along the edge of the box before sending a screamer past a fully-stretched PNG keeper Ronald Warisan.
Sahil’s strike partner Fazrul Nawaz then made it a reassuring 2-0 when he connected perfectly with Shahfiq Ghani’s cross to bury the ball in the net.
Singapore had several more near misses during the first period, the closest coming when Shadhan Suliman hit the cross bar.
Despite being two goals down at the break, Wynton Rufer’s plucky side never gave up, proving more than a handful for Singapore’s midfield and defence at times.
Papua New Guinea’s efforts paid off in the 60th minute when speedy substitute midfielder Raymond Gunemba wiggled past two Singapore defenders before slotting past substitute keeper Izwan Mahbud.
Singapore assistant coach Aide Iskander, standing in for Stange who missed the game because of a fever, felt his side could have been more clinical with their chances.
Iskander says the second-half was a little off-kilter at time in the second-half because of the substitutions that were made.
“That disrupted our rhythm a little but but overall, we deserved to win,” the former Singapore skipper says.
“Playing lower-ranked teams like PNG is never easy despite what the rankings suggest, because they are underdogs, and underdogs always want to prove themselves, and have nothing to lose.
Papua New Guinea are preparing for the 2015 Pacific Games which will be hosted in Port Moresby. They will play one more match in Singapore against professional club Tampines Rovers FC on 8 September.
Line-ups:
Singapore – Hassan Sunny (Izwan Mahbud, 46th), Afiq Yunos (Amirul Adli, 46th), Fadli Kamis, Baihakki Khaizan, Al-Qaasimy Rahman, Zulfahmi Arifin (Suria Prakash, 35th), Hariss Harun, Shahdan Sulaiman (M. Anumanthan, 67th), Shahfiq Ghani (Iqbal Hassan, 72nd), Sahil Suhaimi, Fazrul Nawaz (Shameer Aziq, 92nd).
Papua New Guinea – Ronald Warisan, Daniel Joe, Valentine Nelson, Cyril Muta (Agi Moses, 68th), Tommy Sammy (Emmanuel Simon, 84th), Nigel Dabinyaba (Raymond Gunemba, 54th), Michael Foster (Brad McDonald, 59th), George Slefendorfas, David Muta (Vanya Malagian, 90th), Maurie Wasi, Koriak Upaiga.
Match report courtesy of Football Association of Singapore.

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