Former Lion City Sailors’ player Song Ui-yong scored during his debut for his new club Nongbua Pitchaya despite a 3-1 defeat to Bangkok United in the Thai League 1 match on Sat, 21 Jan.
Nongbua was trailing 2-0 late into injury time when a long ball was played deep into Bangkok’s penalty box. Leonardo dos Santos rose to knock down the ball to Song Ui-yong, who volleyed the ball towards the goal. Although Bangkok goalkeeper Michael Falkesgaard palmed it away, a VAR check confirmed that the ball had crossed the goal line and a goal was awarded to the Singapore international player in the fourth minute of added time in the second half.
But there was no late comeback for Nongbua as Brazilian Heberty Fernandez added his second goal of the night to seal a 3-1 win for Bangkok. With the results, Nongbua remained second from bottom in the 16-team league, while Bangkok was in third place.
With 16 matches played so far, Nongbua has only 10 points from their two wins, and four draws and has lost their remaining matches.
Song Ui-yong’s move to Thailand was announced by the Sailors a week ago on their social media, after spending a total of 11 seasons with the club – previously known as Home United and eventually transforming it into its current form of the ‘wildly ambitious Lion City Sailors’ as the club puts it.
It took the South Korean-born player three attempts before he successfully secured a permanent residency in 2020, gainfully became a Singapore citizen the following year in August and was then able to represent the national football team.
“That moment I received the Singapore passport, I couldn’t describe my exact feelings but I was very happy because I really feel at home in Singapore after so many years here and I really wanted to play for the Singapore national team,” said Song in an interview with the Sailors before he departed for Thailand.
“There have been ups and downs of course, but I’m glad to have grown together with this club – both as a footballer and as a man. There’s obviously a big difference since the club became the Sailors and it’s great what the club has built up so far from the facilities to the personnel,” recalled the Incheon native, who first came to the Lion City at the end of 2011 as an 18-year-old.
“As a player, I could really focus on my football here so you can tell there’s a great deal of professionalism in how we do things here,” he said.
Song Ui-yong is currently an all-time leading goalscorer for the Sailors with 32 goals in all competitions. He did a video interview with the Sailors before he left Singapore to join his new club. The video may be viewed below.
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