Singapore’s hopes of reaching the ASEAN Championship final for the first time since their 2012 title seemed all but over as they trailed Thailand 3-0 with full time approaching in their semi-final first-leg clash at the Jalan Besar Stadium on Saturday (Aug 15) night.
But substitute Ilhan Fandi popped up with his fourth goal of the tournament, curling a stunning effort in off the post to give the home supporters just a glimmer of hope ahead of the second leg at Bangkok’s Rajamangala Stadium on Tuesday (Aug 18).
The striker rued the less-than-satisfactory performance but insisted they were not throwing in the towel as they head into a tough away assignment needing to overturn a two-goal deficit.
“Very disappointed to go down two-nil at half-time… but this team never gives up. The fans didn’t give up too, so why should we? I am going to go all out at the Rajamangala (Stadium) to do my best for Singapore. I really want to take this team to the final,” Ilhan said.
“We know we are a team that never backs down.”
Head coach Gavin Lee also acknowledged his side’s disappointing display, but saluted the fans’ unwavering support throughout.
“The biggest disappointment for me and for us is that we couldn’t put on a performance and result that was worthy of the fan support tonight. The fans were amazing. Even towards the end they kept singing, kept cheering, kept pushing us, and I think that the boys just kept going because of that.”
“Ultimately we reduced the deficit by one. And with this group that we have, anything is possible when we go to Bangkok.”
Despite pushing Thailand back into their half for most of the encounter with a whopping 72 per cent of possession and restricting the visitors to counter attacks, the Lions saw a series of mistakes creep into their game which the Thais duly capitalised on.
“We’ll hold our hands up and say we put ourselves through quite a few unnecessary, difficult moments and made it easy for them. Against players of that quality, they definitely punish you.”
“We got caught twice in quick succession, so shame on us. We should have dealt with the big moments better. But there are things we need to build on, like pushing Thailand all the way back and forcing them to defend the box… Credit to them, that they had the ability to break. So our ability not to put ourselves in such an exposed situation will be vital on Tuesday.”
Thailand head coach Anthony Hudson, whose side created 13 attempts despite seeing just over a quarter of the ball, was pleased with the way his side acquitted themselves in a hostile encounter.
“Very proud of the players to come to a difficult place, put in a really, really solid performance… but also we’re very clear that it’s only half time, and we need to go back to Bangkok and make sure we deliver an even bigger performance than tonight.”
“Singapore are a complicated team to play against. Just the way they’re set up makes it very difficult to build pressure against them. I actually think one of the biggest things tonight was that we wanted to control the ball more, and that’s one of the biggest things going into the next game.”
The hosts started brightly, controlling the tempo well, with Harhys Stewart and Kyoga Nakamura on either side looking to stretch the Thai midfield by working the width of the pitch, but the Thais were not drawn out and instead drew first blood against the run of play after capitalising on Singapore’s attempt to play out from the back.
The visitors applied coordinated pressure to win the ball back, as Seksan Ratree threaded Teerasak Poeiphimai through the defence with a neat reverse pass, allowing the striker to squeeze his effort past a flailing Izwan Mahbud in the 14th minute.
Thailand doubled their advantage 12 minutes later when right-back Waris Choolthong whipped a glorious cross around the defence and picked out an unmarked Teerasak, who had the simple task of nodding home from point-blank range for his fourth of the tournament.
Singapore fashioned a few chances of their own, with Jacob Mahler ballooning an effort over from the back post, but the referee later headed to the on-field monitor to review a foul on Shawal Anuar, who was adjudged to have been shoved by Yotsakon Burapha.
However, the forward was unable to convert the resulting penalty.
With the interval inching closer, Kyoga Nakamura had a gilt-edged opportunity when Mahler fizzed the ball into his feet on the edge of the box, but he could not keep his shot down.
Teerasak also came off injured for Patrik Gustavsson in the 42nd minute, showcasing the remarkable depth of the War Elephants’ ranks.
The Swedish-born striker then set up player of the match Seksan in the 51st minute for Thailand’s third of the night, with the midfielder passing the ball into the net after the Lions defence was completely caught out.
“This is probably one of the first times we weren’t able to control and dominate the ball. A lot of our attacks and goals came from counter-attacks, which wasn’t really what we were looking to do,” Hudson explained. “Sometimes the game plays out the way it does, but our objective was to come here and win the game so we can go back to Bangkok with an advantage.”
Still, for the majority of the 5,358 fans present, Ilhan’s late strike offered a sliver of hope as the Lions head into the second leg, with many chanting “Singapura” after the match in a show of support.
