F-17's Russell leaves Youth World Cup opponents in tears

He cried when he missed his father or was left out of the starting seven yesterday.

But 10-year-old Russell Tan, who lives in the United States, was the one inflicting tears on opponents IFK Stocksund in their Gothia Cup Group 6 opener yesterday.

In a lively five-minute cameo that led to the F-17 Academy Under-11s' stoppage-time 3-2 win over IFK, his elegant stepovers also drew gasps from the crowd at the Valen pitch.

From being a one-man wall defending an IFK free-kick, he launched a counter-attack that ended with Aryan Bahadur Chetri's dramatic winner with the last kick of the 40-minute match.

Russell told The New Paper: "I was sad, but coach Jahsh (Ruzzman) explained that he wanted me to come on and make an impact, and I'm happy that I did."

With the match played on a field a quarter of the size of a regular pitch, it was an end-to-end affair that saw Aryan's fourth-minute free-kick and Febryan Putra Pradana's 15th-minute long-range effort cancelled out in the first half, before Aryan's late clincher.

Singapore Football

Youth World Cup: S'pore provide English lesson

Jul 15, 2015

Related Stories

Youth World Cup: Twin terrors Marc and Ilhan to deliver goals

Meet the young Singapore footballers playing at the Youth World Cup

Juniors eager to fly flag

F-17 U-11s coach Jahsh said: "Our opponents were unfortunate with the disallowed goal and they were sporting about it. But, overall, we pressed hard and matched the bigger opponents physically."

It was a good day for the F-17 Academy, whose U-13 side also won their Group 20 opener by beating Karra KIF 2-0 at Kviberg.

Goalkeeper Dylan Goh made a big save early in the 11-a-side match, but that was the only time the F-17 U-13 were tested in the 40 minutes.

The Singapore side were left frustrated after seeing three shots by Vasileous Chua, K Dashan and Ilhan Fandi Ahmad cannon off the posts in an eight-minute spell that also saw Marc Tan's effort cleared off the line.

But they finally broke through in the 19th minute when the Greece-born Vasileous finished off a sweeping move with Dashan and Ian Pang contributing to the build-up.

They killed off the game when the impressive 14-year-old midfielder Khairul Karim, one of two overaged players permitted along with last man Zamani Zamri, blitzed one in with six minutes left.

"We were unlucky not to score more earlier, but it feels good to score and I hope to experience this rush again in the upcoming games," said Vasileous, who was born in Greece to a Singaporean dad and Greek mum, and moved back to Singapore two years ago.

• The New Paper's trip to the Gothia Cup is facilitated by the F-17 Academy.