Singapore coach does not blame the referee and wishes the Vietnamese team well in the final

The Singapore team was unable to create a surprise in the rematch of the Vietnamese team in the second leg of the AFF Cup 2024 semi-finals. Coach Tsutomu Ogura’s students lost 1-3 at Viet Tri Stadium, thereby ending their journey. in the AFF Cup with a total loss of 1-5.

After the match, Singapore coach Ogura affirmed that he was still proud of his students for their efforts until the last minute.

“I am proud that the whole team played well and had a high fighting spirit. They were not afraid of the Vietnamese team, but played very confidently. I am satisfied with this result. The Singapore team has improved. in terms of both posture and fighting tactics, when meeting the requirements of the coaching staff,” coach Ogura emphasized.

The Vietnamese team will face Thailand or the Philippines in the AFF Cup 2024 final. According to Coach Ogura, Vietnam will play well in the final match of this year’s tournament with the current quality personnel and tactics.

“I can’t talk about the final yet because Vietnam’s opponent has not yet been determined (the semi-final second leg between Thailand and the Philippines takes place tomorrow, December 30. However, I still want to congratulate the team.” “When you reach the finals, Vietnam has good players, good tactics and hopefully they will play well in the final match,” Mr. Ogura shared.

The Singapore team lost 3 goals in this match, including 2 goals on penalty kicks. The away team was denied a goal by VAR and the referee. Then, also from slow motion review thanks to VAR’s consultation, the referee blew a penalty against Singapore in the last minutes of the first half.

However, coach Ogura did not blame the referee. He commented: “Not only this match, but also in the match between Singapore and Thailand, the referee had situations to review VAR. I just want to say that the decision is the referee’s, and I respect it very much. For my part, , in the future we need to practice more in these types of situations and avoid unfortunate penalties.”

Coach Ogura also said that the Singapore team cannot call up stars playing abroad because the AFF Cup is not within the framework of FIFA Days. “Thanks to that, the level of Singaporean players playing domestically has improved. Hopefully in the next tournament (2027 Asian Cup qualifiers), I can call on more foreign players to have a cohesive and capable squad. better results,” Mr. Ogura affirmed.