Sports Minutes: Izairida Shakira on 'that shootout' save, her rapid rise and dreaming big

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
Sports Minutes with Zia-ul Raushan on Money FM 89.3.

**Zia-ul Raushan** (0:05)
Money FM 89.3, it's time for Sports Minutes with me, Zia-ul Raushan. Now picture this, a penalty shootout with ASEAN Championship qualification on the line. You're 19, you're a goalkeeper, and you have the weight of a nation riding on your shoulders. And in one instinctive moment, you pull out a save that secures a podium finish for Team Singapore and secures qualification to regional competition.
That was very much the reality for Singapore Women's National Team No. 1, Izairida Shakira, who gave local football a core memory to be locked in forever. And she joins us on the show today to tell us about that heroic moment, her past, her present, and her future. Shakira, a huge welcome to Sports Minutes. How are you doing?

**Izairida Shakira** (0:52)
I'm good, how are you?

**Zia-ul Raushan** (0:53)
I'm good, and I'm excited to be in your company, and that's because you are a national hero at the moment, right? After your heroics against Cambodia in the penalty shootout, about one week since it happened, how are you feeling about the whole thing?

**Izairida Shakira** (1:04)
Aesthetic, I'm still shocked. It's over, but I'm just excited.

**Zia-ul Raushan** (1:07)
Yeah, I can imagine. And what are your recollections of the penalty shootout? Because when you play football, it's adrenaline, everything happened so quickly. I've seen amazing images of once you saved that last penalty, number 14, your colleague was the first one to jump on you and celebrate. What do you remember?

**Izairida Shakira** (1:23)
I just remember saving that penalty shootout. I think before the last penalty shootout happened itself, I was just asking the referee what happens if after this, and then he said, if you save this, you win the whole thing. When it happens, after I save it, it's like just shock. I mean, you won't... Penalty shootout is just, it rarely happens, and you just have to enjoy it at the moment.
And when we win it, and of course you can see I jump, joy and all. And the first thing I see is, I think, Yasmin, she came to me, and I was just, it was just in the moment that everyone just huddle up. I think it's just like, everyone was just happy. I think it's all, you know, team enjoyment and all. Like, our objective is at least we won the game against Cambodia after, of course, losing against them. Yeah, so it's just an achievement to at least, to prove ourselves after losing to them. So it's, like I say, it's a great achievement.

**Zia-ul Raushan** (2:11)
Yeah, you make a great point, right, in terms of that objective of beating Cambodia. I will bring up that recent loss as well in the build up to the tournament, but securing ASEAN Championship qualification was a key goal. Earlier, you mentioned, you sort of asked the referee, what happens if I save this, right? Which tells me you actually quite checked in, completely zoned in on the moment, but you're still not feeling the pressure because you can still think, clarity of thought is still there, right? How do you have that level of composure? You're all of 19

**Izairida Shakira** (2:39)
I think it's just years of, like, practice.
I mean, knowing as a goalkeeper, you have to be composed. If you're not composed, the whole team is not composed. So when, I think, before even the game itself, we already practiced the penalty shootout. So it's like, I think that with trainings and all, it just leads up to having composure in the pitch.

**Zia-ul Raushan** (2:59)
And penalties at the highest level, sometimes I see in a men's game, especially goalkeepers got notes on their water bottle sometimes and stuff like that. Was there that level of preparation for what your opponents could bring?

**Izairida Shakira** (3:09)
No, actually. I think it's just all the instincts at that point.

**Zia-ul Raushan** (3:12)
Okay, I see what you mean. And you talked earlier about losing to Cambodia, so there was revenge almost going, there was that revenge arc going into this third, fourth place match as well, right? I'm keen to find out what changed tactically from that friendly defeat to then this match where at full time, it finished 1-1, I believe.

**Izairida Shakira** (3:28)
I think it's the hunger. I think going into this match, we know we had to win this, of course. So the hunger to win it and I think with the collective support from the staffs and everyone, of course, we want to make the Singaporeans proud. So I think that's the reason why we win this. Everything in training, we do, we just follow the coach's plan.