Indonesia 1 Singapore 3

Yup. That's the final score. Singapore beat Indonesia 3 goals to 1. Believe it, it happened...

Watched the match live with a group of friends at Marine Parade, the sentiment on the ground was that Indonesia's going to win. Even when Singapore took the lead in the 2nd min (deflected shot), we thought that it would be temporary. And we thought we were going to be right. Indonesia were just *fast*. Pass and move, pass and move, one-two plays. It surely was going to be a matter of time before they carved up Singapore's defence. They had 2 good chances, one hitting the woodwork before spinning out, the other denied by a brave block at the edge of the box by the Singapore keeper. 'That's it, at the rate the Indonesians are going, it might be 1,000,000 - 1 at full time'

But no... Singapore scored again in the 36th min. The Indonesian keeper made a good save from a shot, but the rebound went to a Singaporean player who tucked the shot into the net. I was flabbergasted. Wait, the whole group of us were like 'what? 0-2? What the?' Nice to know that we thought 'highly' of the national team.

In the 2nd half, an Indonesian player got sent off. The funny thing was that before he got the marching orders, a Singapore player was all over him. Pulling his jersey, his shorts and got a piece of his socks too, then there was a punch. *bish* Early shower, tataz.

So... 11 vs 10. Looking for Singapore. We were beginning to believe that perhaps, just maybe Singapore could get something out of this match. Then it became 0-3. 0-3??? Never in our mind we thought we could see this scoreline for this match. Finally in the last min, Indonesia pulled one back via a deflected shot. 1-3. And all of us went 'that's it. Singapore is going to have a tough fight in the 2nd leg a week later'.

Funny, in any other context, a 1-3 advantage to take back home would be a good result. But somehow we acted as though it's the end. Defeat, kaput, finished. Bye bye Singapore. Is that how we viewed the team? Inconsistent in performance? Prone to overconfidence? Or is it a symptom of a deeper malice that's in the Singaporean mentality if not Chinese culture?

Sigh, so much for a relaxing weekend