Jewel Raja opened the account for India in the 13th minute
while Balwant Singh doubled it in the 62nd minute. Jibon Singh added a third in
the 67th minute and Maithani Manish scored the fourth in the 75th minute.
Substitute Eugene Luo scored the consolation goal for Singapore in the 83rd
minute.
India finished third in the group but qualified for the
pre-quarterfinal as the top-four best third finishers from the six groups
qualify for the knock-out stage alonh with two top teams from all the groups.
Singapore were clearly undone in the 13th minute when a poor
defensive wall set up by goalkeeper Siddiq Durimi allowed Raja to score with a
curling free kick. Singapore came close to equalising, but Shahril Ishak failed
to shoot despite having ball possession inside the six-yard box.
Singapore captain Hariss Harun was forced to play in the
defense as his team was depleted by yellow cards.
Singapore were dealt a psychological blow when Harun limped
off with an injury at half time and then in the second half, goalkeeper Siddiq
made a howler that gifted India their second goal.
A backpedalling Siddiq was spotted outside his box by
Balwant Singh and the striker hit the back of the net from almost the halfway
line to make it 2-0.?
Singapore left gaps in their defense and India exploited it
to the full. A flowing Indian move saw Jibon Singh move into the box and he
scored the third goal through the legs of the goalkeeper in the 66th minute.
In the 74th minute, Singapore defender Afiq Yunos missed a
clearing header completely in the penalty box and Manish thundered home a shot
to give India a 4-0 lead.
Luo scored Singapore's only goal in the 82nd minute when the
Indian goalkeeper spilled a Shahdan Sulaiman free kick.
India coach Sukhwinder Singh was elated with the win and
said that he will take one match at a time.
"It was a tough match, but my boys played well.
Conditions were tough as we were playing our third match in five days with the
same bunch of players," Sukhwinder told IANS.
Asked if India took the field with any plan, Sukhwinder
said: "We were only thinking of winning the match by a good margin. We
were confident that if we play with the same enthusiasm that we displayed
against defending champions Qatar we can win this match."
"Today my boys gave their best and all the goals were
spectacular. Now we will get some rest before gearing up for the next
stage."
India lost to Kuwait 0-2 in their opening match and in the
second game went down 1-2 to defending champions Qatar despite leading the
match till the 80th minute.