Singapore Players Violated Ricky Kambuaya But Did Not Get A Penalty, Shin Tae-yong: Respect The Referee's Decision Because The Result Is The Same

Shin Tae-yong (Photo: PSSI)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian national team coach, Shin Tae-yong opened his voice about the controversial violation committed by Singapore players against one of his players, Ricky Kambuaya.

The moment occurred when Indonesia and Singapore met in the first leg of the 2020 AFF Cup semifinals, Wednesday, December 22. To be precise, in the 77th minute.

Ricky Kambuaya looks violated in the penalty box by Singapore players. However, the South Korean referee Kim Hee Gon only gave a free-kick outside the box.

The decision is somewhat detrimental to Indonesia, which is trying to add goals. Even more unfortunate, Evan Dimas Darmono's free-kick only hit the opponent's posse.

Regarding the incident, Shin Tae-yong chose to comment wisely. Moreover, he also has not fully watched the rebroadcast of the match.

However, the South Korean coach was reluctant to find a scapegoat for the incident. He chose to accept and respect the decisions taken by the referee.

"Honestly, I haven't watched the video so I don't know if it should be a penalty or not. So if the referee makes the wrong decision on the pitch we have to respect the referee's decision because the result is still the same," Shin Tae-yong said in an online press conference after the match.

Shin Tae-yong admitted the referee's decision was difficult for the team. But, rather than lamenting about it, he chose to refocus on his team. The coach chose to take advantage of the available time to rest so that the Garuda squad could perform even better

"In the tournament, there must be difficult times for us, like today. If you have more time to rest, the results will be even better," he added.

Regardless of what Shin Tae-yong said, in the first leg the national team actually took the lead first. The 1-0 score belonged to the national team through the execution of Witan Sulaeman in the 38th minute.

However, Singapore was able to equalize the score in the second half, precisely in the 70th minute through Ikhsan Fandi's quick counter-attack.

Despite the draw in the first leg, the national team still has a chance to perform better and score more goals in the second leg which will take place on Saturday, December 25.