Singapore’s football scene has been rather dismal lately — especially after its crushing 7-0 loss to South Korea back in June.
Goalkeeper Hassan Sunny, however, has been a bright spark amid all the disappointment.
With an impressive performance against Thailand in June that maintained the score at 3-1 and kept China in the World Cup qualifiers, he has been the subject of much praise in recent weeks — including, apparently, by FIFA World Cup’s official Instagram account.
The account shouted out the 40-year-old footballer via a post on Wednesday (3 July), resulting in a flurry of excited comments from local fans.
Posting to the social media platform on 3 July, the account praised Hassan by stating:
Nasi Padang stall owner by day, hero on the field by night.
Source: @fifaworldcup on Instagram
The post has since gone viral on the platform, gaining nearly 11,000 likes at the time of writing.
Many netizens expressed their excitement over FIFA World Cup acknowledging one of Singapore’s players — even though the nation had never qualified for the final stages of the tournament.
Source: Instagram
Others were simply grateful that the association was aware of Singapore’s existence.
Source: Instagram
There were those who chose to interpret the post as Singapore finally making it to the World Cup — albeit in a pretty unusual way.
Source: Instagram
The excitement of Singaporean fans in the post’s comment section eventually became pretty hard to ignore.
One netizen even took it upon themselves to apologise for the enthusiasm, explaining that they were just extremely thrilled about the recognition.
Source: Instagram
Being featured in FIFA World Cup’s Instagram account isn’t the only taste of fame Hassan has gotten into in recent months.
Source: @hassansunny18 on Instagram
Following his heroics against Thailand back in June, Hassan made the headlines after his nasi padang stall received donations from Chinese fans who wanted to thank him for keeping their country in the World Cup qualifiers.
However, he then urged fans to stop sending his stall money and instead support him through rational means.
On Tuesday (2 July), he also announced the donation of S$10,000 from the money received to charity, with the beneficiary being Muhammadiyah Welfare Home, a non-profit organisation located at Pasir Ris.
The organisation cares for boys aged between 10 and 19 years old who were admitted under the Care and Protection Orders, Compassionate Grounds, or sent by agencies such as the Court and the Ministry of Social & Family Development (MSF).
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Featured image adapted from @fifaworldcup on Instagram.
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