Coaches' Thoughts on Final Matchday of Inaugural UEFA-FAS U15 Girls Tournament

12 Year Old Irsalina Irwan was named as the Player of the Tournament.
Photo: Heinkel Heinz

Friday, 22 March 2019 - The inaugural UEFA-FAS Under-15 Girls Tournament concluded last evening with Moldova clinching the title of champions following a 3 - 0 win over Singapore, who finished as runners-up. Guam came in third place after a hard fought victory over fourth placed Cambodia with both sides battling it out under a heavy evening downpour in Tampines.

Our writer caught up with the four Head Coaches to hear their thoughts about their teams' performances in their final match.

Belinda Wilson, Guam Under-15 Women's National Team

Guam Under-15 Women's National Team
Photo: Heinkel Heinz

Coach of Guam Belinda Wilson was delighted with her team's win. "This is the team's first win together so we're very happy," she said.

"I've been in the region a long time now and had a fair idea how Cambodia played and watched them in their earlier matches and we had a clear game plan."

"It was about how we executed it and we knew they were probably technically a little better than us but still developing so we worked on key areas of the field and it paid off well."

"After the break we struggled for the first ten minutes or so but then we got things back together again. The youngest player just turned 13 so we have some very young players in the group. We have a very small pool of players to draw from so this tonight was very pleasing."

Oum Savong, Cambodia Under-15 Women's National Team

Cambodia coach, more conservatively dressed off the pitch when we spoke to him in the grandstand later, was not unhappy with his team's efforts.

"We did very well but our players were too excited and needed to be more composed so that's why we missed so many chances. We were very happy to come here and play these matches as it's a new team we brought together very quickly."

"We're preparing for the AFF event in Thailand in May and this was excellent preparation for the girls. I think Guam were very passionate tonight in the match and we can learn from that."

Tudor Glad Bugariu, Moldova Under-15 Women's National Team

Moldova coach Tudor Glad Bugariu felt that there were many things stacked against his side that they had to overcome, including being in a different time zone and coming from the depths of a European winter to the oppressive heat and humidity of Singapore, plus cultural differences, with the three opponents his team was facing in the tournament.

"I expected Singapore to be our toughest opponent and although I’d never seen any of our opponents before and had only videos to go on, I could see that Singapore were probably technically superior to us and we may have only had a slight edge over them, perhaps, in physique."

"It was a pleasure to play here and we’re very pleased to win this tournament. Half of this team will now move on to the Under 17s later in the year, while we’ll be bringing in some new younger players in readiness for our next Under-15 challenges."

When asked why so many of his players were down with injury and needing treatment throughout the match, and yet he was able to report a clean bill of health for every member of his squad, Bugariu felt that it was partly a cultural thing and partly the combative nature of the Singaporean players, which his team were not used to seeing in European competition.

The player, for instance, who was stretchered off just before half-time and lay prone on the touchline for many minutes, got up and played again from the start of the second-half, without any ill-effects, though she was substituted later in the game but it was not due to suffering any serious injury.

"Her only issue was a sore back, which did not trouble her again." her coach said.

Tina Afrida Nasmi, Singapore Under-15 Women's National Team

Singapore coach Tina Afrida Nasmi was also pleased to have won two of the three matches her team played and that they put in a good performance in the final match against Moldova.

"We’ve been together since January and we have trained three nights a week at Serangoon Stadium, which we’ll continue to do up until the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Under-15 tournament in Thailand in May."

Singapore's Nur Adrianna (No. 6) was seen battling for every ball
and marshaled her midfield really well in the tournament.
Photo: Heinkel Heinz

"We did well enough in this event this week for me to be confident that we can be very competitive in Thailand. We’ll be meeting Cambodia again over there, as well as Malaysia, Laos and Thailand, the host nation."

"Our side has done well and we have quite a few young players, including one who’s only eleven and has played in several different positions in the team already and done well in all of them (Charis Han En, 11) and the Player of the Tournament, Irsalina Irwan, who’s only 12."

Defender Charis Han (11) is the youngest player in the squad
but certainly didn't look out of place against older opponents.

"We will continue to look at players all the time, as we can’t allow any of the current squad to think that their places are guaranteed; they will need to fight to hold onto them."

"The team has shown improvement every week since we began working together and so it was in this tournament too. It’s a very young team, compared to some of the others here, lots of 13 and 14 year-olds and another 12 year old, most of them featuring in the starting eleven."

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Paul Green
Writer
The SG Football Podcast