The odds ultimately proved too great to overcome for the Lion City Sailors Women’s Team, who put up a gutsy display in their maiden Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Champions League (AWCL) outing before going down 4-1 to reigning Indian Women’s League champions Odisha FC at the Prince Mohammed Stadium on Sunday (25 August) night.

Against a professional outfit representing a country ranked 68th in the FIFA World Rankings – some 70 places above Singapore – the Sailors Women gave an extremely good account of themselves, even threatening to produce a shock with the scores level at 1-1 going into the break. 

However, two quick-fire goals early in the second half proved to be the difference, before Odisha netted a fourth late on to seal an opening Group B victory in the Preliminary Stage. 

Speaking after the game, Sailors Women Head Coach Daniel Ong spoke with pride about how his team had fought bravely against a fancied Odisha side. 

“The final score doesn’t reflect how well our girls performed tonight,” the 35-year-old said. “The way the team played was exactly how we have been training to play, and they executed the game plan really well. 

“We did well in terms of keeping possession when going forward. Defensively, we kept them at bay with our shape and compactness as a team. Most importantly, the girls showed that they have the desire and discipline to play good football; we have shown that we can play good football against a team which is much faster and stronger than us.”

Indeed, there was little doubt that the Sailors Women were up against the odds, against an Odisha side that included several seasoned Indian internationals as well as a new foreign duo that was brought in to bolster their AWCL campaign. 

Marshalling Odisha’s backline was 28-year-old Maryam Juke Ibrahim, who was a member of the Nigeria team that finished runners-up at the FIFA Women’s Under-20 World Cup a decade ago, while leading their attack was Ghana’s reigning Female Footballer of the Year, Jennifer Kankam Yeboah. 

However, the Sailors Women – whose starting eleven had an average age of 20.2 – showed no signs of being overawed by the occasion, sticking to their principles of stringing passes together and building from the back. 

They even produced the first shot of the game after six minutes, with Priscille Le Helloco firing straight at Odisha goalkeeper Shreya Hooda. 

Daniel’s charges tried to keep things tight at the back but were undone in unfortunate fashion after 19 minutes, when Dorcas Chu inadvertently directed Neha Sillay’s corner into her own net. 

Despite the setback, the Sailors Women stuck to their game plan, with 14-year-old Nur Ain Salleh proving a real threat down the right with her speed and trickery.

Both Raeka Ee and Priscille came agonisingly close to finding an equaliser, before the former wrote her name in the history books by scoring the club’s – and, indeed, Singapore’s – first-ever AWCL goal just before half-time. 

Ain was the catalyst for the historic goal, producing a brilliant turn of pace to give Nishka Parkash the slip and then playing a perfectly-weighted pass in behind the Odisha defence for Raeka to beat an onrushing Hooda with a composed finish that sent the Sailors Women’s bench into raptures. 

It was a goal that left Raeka looking back on the night with a huge smile on her face.

“It’s a huge honour to have earned this achievement, especially considering the immense effort that the club has put in over the past three years towards participation in the AWCL,” the 20-year-old said. “I am grateful to have been able to contribute to the team today, and to help us make our mark on this stage. 

Recalling that moment, she said: “I trusted my speed and made my run between the defenders upon seeing Ain with the ball. She provided the perfect through ball; I knew exactly where I wanted to place the shot and took my time with it. Seeing the ball roll into the back of the net gave me a sense of relief!”

It did not take long after the restart for Odisha’s quality to show, however, as striker Lynda Kom capitalised on a couple of defensive lapses to net a quickfire double. 

Daniel tried to freshen things up with the introduction of Academy graduates Yuvika Suresh, Seri Nurinsyirah, Miray Altun and Josephine Ang, as the Sailors Women went in search of a way back into the game. 

In the 83rd minute, Dorcas lashed a shot from range just wide, before Miray saw her dipping effort from 30 yards out strike the crossbar and go out of play. 

But it was Odisha that sealed victory shortly after, when Sailors Women full-back Syazwani Ruzi unfortunately cleared into her own net while trying to deal with a cross from the left. 

Despite the defeat, the Sailors Women were determined to learn from their first experience of playing at this level. 

“The level of intensity and technical play was definitely much higher than what we are used to,” said Raeka. “What we experienced in this game has set a new benchmark for us to strive towards.”

The Sailors will wrap up the Preliminary Stage with a clash against Jordan Women’s Pro League winners Etihad Club on Wednesday (28 August), and Daniel wants his side to relish the opportunity to improve on Sunday’s performance. 

“First thing first, the girls need to recover well. Then we’ll try to work on our individual technique and make some adjustments to player positioning when defending,” he said. 

“Playing at this much higher level means that we really have to minimise the number of errors we make, but I’ve full confidence that the girls will go out there and put in another solid performance to make Singapore proud.”