Singapore's Under-23 side were outfought, outplayed, and outclassed on Saturday evening at the Jalan Besar Stadium as they suffered an 8-1 drubbing by the Japanese U-22s.

The friendly match was arranged to prepare coach Aide Iskandar's team for the upcoming Singapore SEA Games, where the target is a gold medal, but it looked to have caused serious damage to the team's morale.

Japan were dominant from start to finish, comfortably pinging the ball around as they dismantled the Singapore defence with consummate ease. A first-half brace from Shoya Nakajima got things rolling for the team in blue. Musashi Suzuki, Haruya Ide, and Ryota Oshima gave the visitors a 5-0 lead at half-time.

Second-half goals from Sei Muroya and Takuma Arano (two) completed the rout for Japan. The only bright spark among the Young Lions was that of Irfan Fandi, the eldest son of Singapore football legend Fandi Ahmad, scoring their consolation goal.