Soccer chapter 6, Singapore's first match in the group stages.

News: The match will be beginning and here are the lineups...

Singapore's Lineup




















Seems like 34 year old striker Noh Alam Shah will be starting this match in Ler's place.

Ukraine's Lineup


The two rebrovs seem to be starting... this could be interesting...

Royston Richards(Commentary A): And its at Curitiba's Arena da Baixada stadium, with a 41375 capacity crowd, and the match between singapore and Ukraine is beginning. How do you see this match, John?

John Ramos(Commentary B): Its is indeed an interesting match between these two teams, Singapore has entered the world cup for the very first time, I think they would try their best to stay in the competition, but Ukraine is a veteran in the World cup, with lots of experience, I would like to see how this turns out.

0' The game kicks off, and Ukraine will be starting this match.

3' [Voronin: ці сінґапореан ідіот особи йдучи униз!][Translation: These singaporean idiots are going down!] Voronin dribbles brilliantly, and does a through pass to Andriy Rebrov! Marc goes for the sliding tackle, but he mis-timed it, and its a penalty!

4' 4 minutes into the game, and its already been a penalty, what a bad start for Singapore, and Marc is handed a Yellow card. Voronin steps back, runs forward and takes the penalty! Jan managed to deflect it! What a save, but Andriy Rebrov with the poaching shot and even thou Jan managed to slightly make contact with the ball with his leg, it went into the bars, its a goalllllll!!!!!!!!!!!

Ukraine 1-0 Singapore
(4' Andriy Rebrov)

9' [Zee: Hmm, Waiman and Derrick are both marked... Alam Shah is open... but I don't really trust him... damn... what should I do?] Zee hesitated a little with the ball and starts dribbling on his own forward. He got pass 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 players! Could this be a repeat of Maradona's greatest goal? No, he makes a pass to the side and Amri with the shot! Shovkovski does well to parry that, but waiman catches the rebound, he fakes a shot and passes to derrick, and its a shot by derrick! Goalllllllllllllllllllllll!!! What teamwork played by the Singaporean team!

Ukraine 1-1 Singapore
(4' Andriy rebrov - 9'Derrick)

29' Zee with a long pass over to the side of the penalty box, its waiman! He shoots! What a miss...

31' Seems like Singapore is still in control of the flow of the game, As Zee does a 1-2 with hariss harun, and a pin point pass to waiman again, this time waiman crosses in, and a desprate diving header by alam shah! Oh, too bad he managed to miss that one, it would be a nice goal if he scored.

42' Ukraine managed to seize the flow of the game suddenly and voronin playing a passing game with Andriy Rebrov, and a shot by Voronin! Jan managed to save that easily.

45+4' The whistle blows for half-time, what an exciting first half we've seen, but it seems like Singapore must do better after halftime to secure the 3 points.

~Halftime teamtalk~
~Singapore locker room~
Avramovic: Team, we can do this, we just need one goal, it'll be enough. Islam halim will be subbing for Hariss harun at the DMF position, now go go, win our first group stage game!
Singapore team: Yes!

Royston: It has been an exciting first half, hopefully the second one would be better.

John: Yea, and the teams are getting into position, and it'll be singapore who will be starting...

46' The game kicks off, Waiman passes to Zee, and Zee does a backpass... its marc! He does a long shot from behind the halfcourt line, oh, sadly its parried by the ukraine keeper, but its alam shah that claims the lose ball and he shoots! Its a goalllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!!!!

Ukraine 1-2 Singapore
(4' A.Rebrov - 9' Derrick, 46' Alam Shah)

47' Ukraine kicks off, tackled almost immediately by Zee, and Singapore gains the flow again...

65' Waiman with the early cross, and derrick rushes to receive ball, he does a long shot! Goallllllllllllll!!!!!!!!!! Hold on, its not a goal, but an offside! That was sad, it was such a nice shot....

69' Waiman attacking from the right side as usual, a curving cross to outside the middle of the penalty box, Zee receives it, and its a volley from outside the penalty! he aims it at the top right hand corner and its a goalllll! What a shot!

Ukraine 1-3 Singapore
(4' A.Rebrov - 9' Derrick, 46' Alam Shah, 69' Zee)

88' Its Voronin, he dribbles in, passes over to A.Rebrov, and rebrov with the shot! But it goes wide... If he could aim better, it would have been a nice goal.

90+4' Zee with the corner kick. He crosses out, and its... Jan!? With the long shot! What a shot, but its saved by the keeper, the keeper kicks over the ball to the center of the field and its the whistle for full time.

The ending result- Ukraine 1-3 Singapore. Quite an unexpected result, and a happy result for Singapore. The Ukrainian manager must be wondering why he lost.

On the other side, Portugal v Sweden

The score Portugal 4-3 Sweden
(15', 29' C.ronaldo, 88' Miguel Costa, 90' Miguel Veloso - 30', 60', 90' Ibrahimovic

The portugese managed to score a victory against Sweden.

Now the Standings are as follows.
1-Singapore Pts:3, W:1, L:0, D:0, GS:3, GA:1, GD:2
2-Portugal Pts:3, W:1, L:0, D:0, GS:4, GA:3, GD:1
3-Sweden Pts:0, W:0, L:1, D:0, GS:3, GA:4, GD:-1
4-Ukraine Pts:0, W:0, L:1, D:0, GS:1, GA:3, GD:-2

Next fixtures: Singapore vs Sweden, Portugal vs Ukraine

To be continued...