The Vanuatu U 20 side held Singapore U 20 to a 1-all draw in their final friendly match in Singapore last night.
Vanuatu’s goal came in the form of a penalty kick from Bong Kalo in extra time (91 minutes).
Singapore also scored through a penalty in extra time.
Half time scores were nil-all.
As part of their preparations for the upcoming 2017 Under-20 World Cup in South Korea, Vanuatu held a training camp in Singapore.
The camp ended with the third friendly match against Singapore U 20 last night.
The Young Lions won 3-2 in an earlier friendly played on Monday.
However, Vanuatu Under-20s put up a much stronger fight for the second match against Singapore U 22 and led for large periods of the game after an early goal from Godine Tenene.
Vanuatu - led by former National Football Academy coach Dejan Gluscevic – broke the deadlock after just nine minutes, with Tenene capitalising on a Singapore mistake to fire home from the edge of the box.
The Singapore Under-22s could have levelled matters in the 18th minute when Hanafi lofted a good cross into the box, but centre-back Lionel Tan was only able to send his header straight at Vanuatu goalkeeper Daniel Alick.
The Young Lions would finally grab a deserved equaliser in the 82nd minute according to a report on the Singapore Football website.
Despite not being able to gain a second successive win, Richard Tardy, Head Coach of the Under-22 National Team, was pleased with the performance his players put up.
“We played better than the win against them on Monday,” said the experienced French tactician.
“This game was a different one from that game because Vanuatu put up their best team which will start in the (FIFA Under-20) World Cup and they were stronger in the man-to-man duels.
“We conceded an early goal, but what’s good was that the players continued to play and create good situations. We did good things and Hanafi proved (with his goal) that he has the quality to be with this team. What we showed in the final 30 minutes is good for the future and I can feel the players are in good spirits.
The 24-team U-20 World Cup is from May 20 to June 11. Vanuatu are in Group B alongside Venezuela, Mexico and Germany.