Singapore Under-23s kept their hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup alive after a goalless draw against the top ranked Bahrain Under-23 team at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on Sunday. The draw threw the Group B wide open with all three teams – Bahrain, Singapore and Thailand having some kind of chance of making it into the last four.Singapore, who lost their opening match to Thailand 3-2, will hope that the Thais will beat Bahrain by a better margin on February 3 to give them a chance.
On the other hand, Bahrain — the 110-ranked side in the world —will take the field against Thailand with a hope to earn at least a point, which will be enough for them to reach the last-four.
Bahrain, who had wasted a series of opportunities throughout the game, were left ruing their poor finishing having seen their three attempts cleared from the goal-line.
Mohammad Miswan made a stunning goal-line save in the 54th minute after a blunder from the Singapore keeper Bin Rohaizad, who almost gifted Bahrain the opener.
Singapore defender R Aravin, who was the hero of his side for his stunning effort to keep the clean sheet, rescued his side twice by clearing Bahrain’s attempts from the goal-line.
Marhoon took a powerful strike from 20 yards in the 74th minute that slipped off the Singapore keeper and bounced towards the goal before Aaravin cleared it off the line.
The defender again rescued his side in the added time.
Substitute midfielder Ali Almalood skipped past three defenders to provide a pass to Saleh Abdulla Janahi, whose shot was blocked by the keeper before Almalood saw his shot on rebound cleared by Aaravin.
-With New Age input
