AFF Championship: Lions unconvincing in 2-0 win over Laos

SINGAPORE – The Lions got the three points they coveted and kept their first clean sheet under Takayuki Nishigaya, but their 2-0 Asean Football Federation Championship win over hosts Laos on Tuesday left much to be desired.

Before the match, Laos coach Michael Weiss noted that Vietnam and Malaysia, who beat them 6-0 and 5-0 respectively, are the better teams in the group.

His team justified the assessment by restricting world No. 160 Singapore to a slim victory in the Group B match in Vientiane.

Despite the underwhelming performance, Nishigaya said: “Today’s objective was to get the three points, so I’m happy about the result. I’m not thinking about the goal difference, we have to focus game by game.”

The visitors made six changes to the side that started in the 3-2 win over Myanmar at the Jalan Besar Stadium last Saturday, as the likes of Hassan Sunny, Irfan Fandi and Song Ui-young were reinstated.

But they were sluggish from the start, slow in transition and missed Christopher van Huizen’s crosses and Shawal Anuar’s pace up front.

In fact, with some luck, the 187th-ranked hosts might even have stolen a point after heeding their coach’s call to be more attack-minded. Laos skipper Soukaphone Vongchiengkham recorded the first shot on target in the 12th minute, forcing Hassan into a smart save with a 25m belter.

Struggling to create from open play, Singapore took the lead from a set piece as Zulfahmi Arifin’s beautiful delivery was powerfully headed in by Irfan for his second international goal.

Instead of going on to rack up the goals to narrow the goal difference with Vietnam and Malaysia, the Lions conceded opportunities from balls over the top.

They had the woodwork to thank just a minute after the break when Phithack Kongmathilath’s strike thumped against the bar. On the hour mark, Hassan had to be alert to deny Chony Wenpaserth’s shot from squeezing into the bottom corner.

In between, Faris Ramli squandered a glorious chance to double Singapore’s lead when he rounded goalkeeper Keo-Oudone Souvannasangso – only to have a soft shot cleared off the line by the recovering Anantaza Siphongphan.

The Lions continued to live on the edge as Phathana Phommathep’s cross was sliced wide by Phonsack Seesavath near the end, before Shawal – who came on in the 61st minute – pickpocketed the Laos goalkeeper in added time for his fifth goal in four games.

Nishigaya did not think that the changes to his line-up affected their performance, saying: “We decided to use fresher players today because we have to consider the players’ conditions.

“I don’t think the changes affected us as we created many chances.

“Of course, the players and coaches understand there is room to grow. We know we are up against a strong Vietnam side next and we have to improve on our concentration as a team.”

Analysis

After Vietnam’s 3-0 win over Malaysia in a later match, Singapore remain third in the group, behind Malaysia on goals scored, although both sides have the same goal difference.

If the form book holds and Vietnam, who meet Singapore at Jalan Besar on Friday, advance to the last four as group winners, it could leave the Tigers with a goal-difference advantage against the Lions before they meet at Bukit Jalil on Jan 3.

That would mean Malaysia would need just a draw to reach the semi-finals as group runners-up, while Singapore must win.

With Hariss Harun, Shahdan Sulaiman, Hafiz Nor and Ilhan Fandi on one yellow card each, they also have to be disciplined against Vietnam to avoid being suspended for the Malaysia match.