Football: Singapore out of AFC U-23 C'ships after drawing 2-2 against Mongolia

The Singapore Under-22s completed their 2016 Asian Football Confederation Under-23 Championship qualifiers without a win on Tuesday, after a 2-2 draw with the Mongolia U-22s at the National Sports Complex Stadium in Vientiane, Laos.

Mongolia opened the scoring in the eighth minute when midfielder Mungunshagai Tsogtbaatar turned a loose ball into the net, but Singapore drew level in the 19th minute after Irfan Fandi headed in from a corner.

Just as the first half drew to a conclusion, Mongolia regained the lead against the run of play, with Purevdorj Erdenebat receiving the ball at the far post before firing past goalkeeper Rudy Khairullah.

Irfan doubled his tally in the 58th minute, latching onto a free kick and sliding the ball into the goal, saving the Cubs' blushes.

The 2-2 draw leaves the Cubs in third place in the four-team group behind China and Laos, and unable to advance past the stage.

Prior to the start of the qualifiers, Coach Richard Bok had targeted maximum points for his Singapore U-22 side against regional minnows Laos and Mongolia, while "hoping for the best" against favourites China.

However, the U-22s could only play out a 0-0 stalemate with Laos, before getting trounced 5-0 by the China.

Mongolia's senior team are ranked 195th in the world, some 42 places below Singapore.

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