Singapore players 'should have waited' to swap shirts with Argentina

While he was pleased that his team never gave up, Singapore head coach V. Sundramoorthy wasn't happy that a couple of his players exchanged jerseys with Argentina rivals at half-time of Tuesday's friendly.

Singapore lost the match 6-0 at the National Stadium against the No. 2-ranked side in the world.

Lions' duo Safuwan Baharudin and Zulfahmi Arifin were spotted swapping shirts with Angel Di Maria and Paulo Dybala before walking into the tunnel at the break.

"It should be done after the game, that's my opinion," when quizzed at the post-match media conference.

The 51-year-old was, however, satisfied about how the Southeast Asian strugglers acquitted themselves against a team who are 155 places above them on the FIFA list.

The Lions limited Argentina to two goals from set plays in the first half before conceding four in the final 30 minutes to end the game in disappointing fashion.

The last two goals came from the 90th minute onwards, giving the scoreline a lopsided look.

"The boys competed. We were playing against a world-class team, why are we looking at the issue like we're going to beat them?" he questioned.

"We've learnt a couple of lessons in this game, and let's move on to the next. You can see how technically superior they are, rotating the ball and so comfortable getting wall passes, penetrative passes.

"We made it difficult for them in the first half and conceded only two from set plays, that's credit to our boys. We sat deep, try to organise the boys and be compact, it's only that we slept during the set plays.

"In the second half, the boys were tired... most of them were fasting. But they gave everything. [Zulfahmi Arifin] did well in the middle of the park; Hariss [Harun] was decent, Hassan was good as usual and the rest basically ran their socks off."

Meanwhile, Argentina boss Jorge Sampaoli was happy with how his players fared in their second successive win since he took over the helm.

"They looked focused in attack, created chances and translated my ideas on the pitch," said the 57-year-old.

Argentina beat Brazil 1-0 in Melbourne on Friday evening before arriving in Singapore the following day. 

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