Philippines silence critics with Lion City Cup triumph, Singapore finish second

SINGAPORE – The Philippines reigned supreme at the Lion City Cup (LCC), defeating Cambodia 3-1 at the Jalan Besar Stadium on July 13 to lift the Under-16 boys’ trophy.

With two wins and a draw, they topped the four-team group with seven points, one above hosts Singapore who beat Hong Kong 4-1 in the later match.

While the title will undoubtedly boost the Philippines’ morale going forward, Player of the Match and tournament top scorer Aaron Thomas Long said that winning the LCC was motivation long before a ball had even been kicked.

“There’s people on social media who were trying to speak bad about us and we had to clear that out of our minds and play to prove them wrong,” said the 16-year-old forward.

“People from our home country (were) talking bad about players selected from specific areas and that it seemed unfair. It’s a dream come true to prove each and every single one of them wrong.”

Coach Tetsuya Tsuchida believes his team deserve to win the tournament, adding: “The players (put in) really hard work to get these results.”

However, they got off to a sluggish start. Cambodia, who were winless and goalless after two games, finally got on the scoresheet after just three minutes.

Lor Nosya’s long-distance curler bounced off the bar but Chhay Chharat ensured the Cambodians would not be denied, beating goalkeeper Reign Lewis Deomampo to the rebound and heading the ball into the net.

But that lead did not last long. Aaron won the ball high up the pitch and lashed in a left-footed shot for the equaliser in the 14th minute.

Despite that, Cambodia looked the better team, taking up more of the possession. They impressed going forward with their confident build-up play but looked shaky defensively. 

With half-time approaching, they were exposed once again in the 41st minute when Aaron’s flighted through-ball caused confusion inside the box. Goalkeeper Chhea Vuthy came rushing off his line, but the ball instead found Francis Benedict Poticano, whose shot trickled into the corner to turn the game on its head.

The Philippines made three substitutions at the break to keep the pressure on their opponents who were desperately pushing for their second goal.

Cambodia coach Nicolas Grezault said his team “controlled the game for 70 minutes” but were punished for their wasteful finishing by Aaron. 

The striker, who was a thorn in Cambodia’s side, caught substitute Filbert Martin Tacardon’s cross sweetly on the half volley to bag his second goal and the Philippines’ third in the 75th minute. He finished as the top scorer with three goals in as many games.

The later game between Singapore and Hong Kong was played in front of a raucous crowd of 1,383 supporters, who were in full song.

The Philippines’ earlier victory meant that Hong Kong had to better that result to win the tournament. They were unable to do so as they fell to a 4-1 defeat.

Goals from Ariq Rizzuwan (22nd minute), Lukyan Tan (31st), Izzan Rifqi (69th) and Aidan Irfan (84th) helped the Cubs win their second game of the tournament, while Hong Kong, who scored a 48th-minute penalty through Eden Tung, were left to rue defensive errors and Uriel Contiero’s 45th-minute red card.

Singapore coach Ashraf Ariffin said: “Whatever we ask from them, they delivered.

“One or two might lose focus, but there’s three or four that are covering up.”

He added that their opening 2-0 defeat by the Philippines was a “glitch” but the team showed their potential, with the 3-0 win over Cambodia showing progress, and the 4-1 victory over Hong Kong displaying the “consistency that we want to develop”.

He hopes the team will get more exposure at this level, with the U-17 Asian Cup qualifiers looming in November, but “the big goal is to develop them into seasoned international players”.