It was a pre-South-east Asia Games lesson that national soccer coach Vincent Subramaniam wanted and that is what he got.
The Under-23 boys of the Australian pre-Olympic team taught the men of Singapore well with a 5-0 drubbing at the Bishan Stadium last night.
The Olyroos, as the visitor is popularly known, was so dominant in the match that its goalkeeper Danny Milosevic had only two shots to save in the entire 90 minutes.
At the other end, Singapore custodian Rezal Hassan was on the ball almost every third minute. Besides picking the ball from the back of the net, he had to save a penalty, meet head on with at least five point-blank shots and help a panicky defence time and again.
Granted that last night's team -- minus the likes of S. Subramani, Aide Iskandar, Kadir Yahaya, Samawira Basri and Rafi Ali -- was not the best in the Republic.
Granted that the regional opponents will not be as physically tough and demanding as the Australians.
And granted there is still time before the Games' soccer competition kicks off on July 29.
But still the Games' gold medal dream will remain just that if things do not pick up for Vincent and his boys.
Said the national coach later: "There were some disappointments among the players. They just confirmed tonight that their poor performance in the S-League has nothing to do with the type of players they are playing with.
"I am going to pick the final squad based on performance not names."
A makeshift defence, with Balestier Central's Aziz Salim making his international debut alongside Lim Tong Hai and Robin Chitrakar, was at sea for most of the match.
After some good passes in the first five minutes, the Lions lost confidence in holding on to the ball as the match turned into an attack versus defence game.
As Singapore failed to keep possession of the ball in midfield, where only captain Nazri Nasir measured up to the Aussies, it was only a matter of time that the defence would cave in.
In the 22nd minute it happened. A mis-judged jump saw Aziz missing a header as the ball bounced past a puzzled Lim who could not catch up with Brett Emerton. The Olyroo went on to slot the ball past Rezal.
Singapore's only chance in the half fell to lone striker Indra Sahdan Daud who, after an exchange of passes with Azhar Salleh, mis-timed his shot across the face of the goal in the 32nd minute.
The Aussie made it 2-0 just before the break when Rezal could only parry Emerton's shot into the path of the on-rushing Kasey Wehrman.
Vincent made some changes after the break but that did not change the complexion of the match.
In fact Lim's replacement, Hairi Suap, was so hapless that he lasted only 27 minutes before being sent off for two bookable tackles.
By then the score was already 4-0 with Michael Curcija and Clayton Zane finding the net in two minutes from the 55th. One minute after Hairi was sacked, Curcija made it 5-0.
Five minutes from time, Rezal pushed away Emerton's spot kick for one of Singapore's few highlights.
And if there was another consolation, it was that the host smothered the Australian threat completely from corners and the numerous set pieces.
Other than that, it was a lesson that could not have come earlier for a team that is targetting the coveted SEA Games gold medal.