Nazri Nasir: I am very proud of my boys

Although his team had lost out to a better team, National Football Academy Under-15 coach, Nazri Nasir was proud of his boy’s performance.

“I am very proud of my boys as although they had lost the game, they fought hard and did not give up in the second half,” said the former national skipper after the 2-1 defeat to a dominant Vasco Da Gama.

“The second goal came early but we still managed to pull one back and keep on trying even though the players were beginning to get tired.

“The team performance matched my expectations. Even though the opponents in the tournament are very good, we managed to give them a good game.”

Nazri also gave special mention to Hami Syahin and Royston Tan.

“The ‘small’ boys I played up front have a big heart as showed in the second-half when they fight for every ball,” he said.

The team captain, Shahrul Affandy spoke of the team's desire to perform well in the game as they did not want to let down the man who had been guiding them for the past year.

“Although we lost, we managed to come back with a goal as we did not want to let coach Nazri down," said Shahrul.

"We worked as hard as we could.”

As for Vasco da Gama coach, Sergio Bello, although his team had won, he was not too pleased with his team's inability to finish off an attack.

“The game was balanced and Vasco had more chances upfront but we did not score them," said Bello, before parting with words of encouragement and advice for his opponents.

“My only advice to the Singapore team is to play as much as possible and to train hard," he added.

"Some of the players have very good technique but they lack match experience.”