SINGAPORE 6 – SRI LANKA 0
Both teams are in mid-table in this Women’s Asian Games Qualifier 2022. Singapore is coming from a draw with Indonesia, while Sri Lanka was coming from a 5-0 win over Cambodia.
The team coached by the Sri Lankan coach wanted to reverse the performance of their last match, so they were focused on giving everything from the first minute to improve their situation in the tournament. Sri Lanka entered the field with a little more confidence as they had just scored 5 goals against Cambodia, so their motivation was high, but sometimes even that is not enough.
At 6 minutes into the match, the player with the number 5 jersey caught the Sri Lankan defense a little distracted and only had to deflect a slow ball into the center of the circle and then into the goal. Singapore took a 1-0 lead, and just 2 minutes later, David Viner’s team got a penalty corner that they were able to take advantage of and convert after a deflection on the penalty spot by Megan Francis to make it 2-0 for their team.
Although Sri Lanka tried to stop the team in red, they were filtering through the sides and even through the center of the field to be able to filter into the opposing area. Such was the strength that in the 19th minute, after a penalty corner, they managed to score the third goal of the match through Megan Francis, who positioned herself in the same place as the previous penalty corner, deflected the ball back into the net.
The team led by Puay Ho did not stay behind and tried to keep scoring goals, while Sri Lanka tried to defend and counterattack every chance, they had to reach Lali Felissa’s goal.
It was in the 35th minute when the result was decided after a penalty corner shot that hit the post, the rebound was left to Laura Tan who calmly put it into the goal under the goalkeeper’s right post to make the score 4-0.
Understanding that Singapore’s forte is the penalty corner, it is no coincidence that the fifth goal came in the same way, with a rocket executed by Xinni Chua, the experienced 33-year-old player who scored goal number 5 to begin to seal the match. The team coached by Botheju Welathanthirige clearly could not find a way to avoid these penalty corners and struggled to defend them properly. That’s why in the 48th minute, just 4 minutes after the last goal, Hajaratih Johana, after a series of rebounds and an advantage given by the referee, backhanded the ball into the goal to make the final score 6-0.
The best player of the match was player number 9 Chua Xinni, a player who gives strength and experience to this team in this important qualifying tournament.
Sri Lanka will face tomorrow June 9th against the mighty Hong Kong China to try to get more points, while Singapore will face Cambodia on Friday June 10th.
