Much knowledge can be GAINED from this episode, & may even be EXTRAPOLATED into the Social & Political understanding of China citizens.....
1.) The audulation & gratitude expressed by China is phenomena & unexpected, as gratitude is often deemed non-existent in CCP run China citizens.
2.) Although China football teams & their league matches are well known to be a joke, as bribes & kelongs are rampant, only second to African teams, it was a great China team that won against Singapore on the 26th of March with a 4 - 1 result.
Singapore's goalkeeper Mr Hassan did his best, with no fear or favor to anyone, but eventually, the best team won. It was a fair game.
3) While Thailand had LONG been a great friend & ally to Singapore in the social, economic, military & political fields, a fair GAME was conducted by our football team, & goalkeeper Mr Hassan did his best as usual, with no fear or favor to anyone. It was only a game, nothing political, where only the best can win.
We Singaporeans would have wanted Thailand to make it, but ultimately, a fair game MUST be held where only the best can win. Our team pulled no punches....
Similarly, in the political field, we Singapore respects China, as it is a LARGE nation with 1.4 Billion mouths to feed, & governance will not be easy. Any instability within or outside would only destabilize our Rule of Law World.
We will not hesitate to speak out, without fear or favor to anyone, based upon the principle of Worldwide stability, peace & sustainability, & with such a principle, to do the same to anyone else, for our own citizens welfare & survival, even though only a mere small red dot on the World map, but a critical point on Earth where all compass points meet for trade - the lifeblood of Humankind.....
Ultimately, Mr Hassan did not expect any rewards from anyone, as he was only doing his job fearlessly with favor to none. However, the phenomena gratitude expressed by China citizens is a bonus, & hopefully, may they do the same if Mr Hassan while doing his job, with final Results that may had not favor them.......Such if happens, will be the germination of evolution to China citizens & culture, the basics that saw the China Empire rose 5000yrs ago....