Singapore’s Lions wake up in time to beat India 2-1, keep Asian Cup qualification hopes alive

SINGAPORE – After sleepwalking for most of the first half against India, the Lions woke up in time to score twice for a 2-1 comeback win on Oct 14 to haul themselves back in contention for a maiden Asian Cup qualification.

With Group C leaders and world No. 146 Hong Kong held to a 1-1 home draw by 184th-ranked minnows Bangladesh, Singapore have eight points and a goal difference of +2. They trail Hong Kong only by goals scored (5-6).

Only the top team from each of the six groups will join 18 other sides who have qualified for the tournament proper in Saudi Arabia in 2027, which means India and Bangladesh are out of the reckoning.

With the competition regulations stating that the tie-breaker for teams level on points is their head-to-head record, this sets up a winners-take-all clash between the top two at Kai Tak Sports Park on Nov 18. Both sides played to a 0-0 draw at the National Stadium on March 25.

If their next match ends in a draw, it will go down to the last round of qualifiers on March 31, 2026, when world No. 158 Singapore host Bangladesh and Hong Kong visit 134th-ranked India. The Lions have featured only once in the continental showpiece when they hosted the 1984 edition.

Lions hero Song Ui-young, who scored a brace, said after the game: “The first 25 minutes were not easy. India’s players were fit, ran a lot and pressed hard, so we struggled and couldn’t really attack.

“But we managed to find a way to escape that, we stuck to our plan and kept our spirit up.

“After putting in all our effort, we got this good result and I’m so happy. It’s very close between Hong Kong and Singapore now. We have to take it match by match and will give everything to get three points against Hong Kong.”

A disappointing 1-1 home draw on Oct 9 was expected to fuel the Lions’ bid for maximum points, but the visitors were lacklustre against the hosts at the sparsely attended Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa.

Making two enforced changes from their previous game as Irfan Najeeb and Amirul Adli replaced the suspended Shah Shahiran and Ryhan Stewart, Gavin Lee’s men made an uninspired start to the match. This was despite knowing before kick-off that group leaders Hong Kong were held 1-1 at home by Bangladesh.

Experienced defender Safuwan Baharudin passed a late fitness test to start, but was guilty of a casual pass to Lallianzuala Chhangte, who took advantage of the napping Lions defence to fire a 30-metre screamer past Izwan Mahbud for the lead.

Singapore did not threaten at all as the front three of Shawal Anuar, Ikhsan Fandi and Glenn Kweh were starved of service and could not conjure any magic on their own.

On a heavy pitch, the visitors looked slow and often made poor decisions.

They were lucky not to fall further behind when Liston Colaco’s shot was cleared off the line by Safuwan in the 29th minute, before Sunil Chhetri set up Mahesh Singh Naorem, who stung Izwan’s palms seven minutes later.

After the let-off, they sparked to life and grabbed goals either side of half-time that could turn out to be the turning point of their campaign.

Irfan’s right-wing cross was not cleared by the Indian defence in the 44th minute, allowing Kweh to tee up Song, who slotted in his sixth international goal on his 30th cap.

The South Korea-born midfielder, 31, then finished off a brilliant counter-attack in the 58th minute. Shawal started the move by knocking the ball onto Ikhsan, before taking four Indian defenders out of the equation with his pass to Song, who blasted a left-footed shot past Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.

India’s 41-year-old talisman Chhetri could not convert two headed opportunities, and substitute Ilhan Fandi’s own powerful header was thwarted by Sandhu.

Fortunately there was no late collapse this time as Singapore defended resolutely and exercised good game management, keeping the ball high up in India’s half as they rode out four minutes of added time and a late corner.

The result did not just seal Lee’s first win as interim Lions coach, but also got their qualification campaign back on track.

The 35-year-old said: “At half-time, we spoke about our non-negotiables. Unfortunately, we broke the rule in the first half when we didn’t win the duels and allowed India to dominate the game a little bit.

“We didn’t help ourselves with our mistakes, which got into our heads a little bit. But we knew that we were better than this, and we found our way in the second half.

“Credit to the boys for rallying together. They emptied their tanks to defend those crosses and the penalty box. It was a well-deserved win for them, but we have just done the job to put us back in contention for qualifying, and that’s our next focus.

“We have got one month to the next game, so now we will enjoy the win for a little bit, stay calm and prepare for the next game.”