Young Lions crash out after Malaysia beat Myanmar
For the second successive SEA Games, the Young Lions have failed to make it to the final four of the football competition.
The national Under-22 side were on the brink of elimination after losing their first two Group A matches against Myanmar (2-0) and hosts Malaysia (2-1).
Before yesterday, they needed Malaysia to lose to Myanmar and Laos to stand a mathematical chance of progressing.
However, it was not to be as Ong Kim Swee's team clinically beat Myanmar 3-1 at the Shah Alam Stadium last night.
Both Malaysia and Myanmar are through to the semi-finals on nine points, but the hosts are in a great position to top the group.
"We are disappointed we did not make it to the semi-finals," said U-22 coach Richard Tardy.
"Before the start of the competition, we knew that the first two matches would be very tough, and we needed results.
"We gave it our all but, in the end, it just was not enough.
"This is a very young team and I hope this experience will benefit them for the next SEA Games.
"We would like to apologise to our fans and thank them for their support. Now the most important thing is to do our best for the last match against Brunei and finish the tournament with two wins."
Singapore will take on bottom team Brunei at Selayang tomorrow to conclude their campaign.
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