"This was for me the hardest night of international football in my career. The two players on my side were like horses, running up and down, and I didn't expect that (Almawas) was that fast, or that (Al Shibbli) was that good." Those words expressed in the papers by defender Shakir Hamzah after Singapore's 2-1 defeat to Syria last month came as a shock to me. "I didn't expect ... was that fast, or that ... was that good." were those keywords tersely summarized by the 23-year-old on both Mahmoud Almawas and Alaa Al Shibbli who rugged him that night at Kallang. Shakir Hamzah (right) got it past Japan's Keisuke Honda (4) Moreover, it wasn't the first time we faced the Syrians whom we narrowly lost to weeks ago on the road which was why I was taken aback by those quotes. To be honest, I would never anticipate thoughts like "didn't expect ... was that fast ... was that good" to be said after an international competitive