On Tuesday (26 March), the Singapore Lions lost 4-1 to China’s national football team during the second leg of the World Cup Qualifiers in Tianjin.
The loss comes just five days after the team managed to overcome a two-goal deficit to draw 2-2 to China at the National Stadium.
A second-half penalty managed to turn the tide for the hosts in Tianjin.
At halftime, the score was 1-1 with goals from China’s Wu Lei and Faris Ramli in the 21st and 22nd minute respectively.
Source: Football Association of Singapore on Facebook
After the game resumed, referee Omar Mohamed Al-Ali ruled at the 65th minute that Singaporean midfielder Jacob Mahler had fouled Gao Zhunyi during a free kick, The Straits Times (ST) reported.
Fei Nanduo then scored the penalty, taking the lead for the hosts.
In the 79th minute, China was down to 10 men after Li Yuanyi received a red card for a challenge on Joel Chew.
But with an injured Chew unable to continue and the team having used up all five substitutions, the Lions were down one man too.
Team captain Wu Lei later went on to make it 3-1 for the hosts in the 85th minute. China sealed its triumph just five minutes after when Wei Shihao brought the scoreline to 4-1.
Due to the result, the Lions remain bottom of their group for the World Cup qualifying stage with a single point.
Source: ESPN
In a post-match press conference, coach Tsutomu Ogura expressed his frustrations about how the match went, especially after the first half. According to ST, he said:
Today, when it was 11 against 11, it was not very good but not so bad. It was quite a good game.
“Then, we [had to] play with 10 men even when we did not need to [because] we already changed five players,” he continued.
“Our player had a serious injury and we had to play with 10. When it was 10 versus 10, the game changed.”
“We could not [continue] our football when the game was 10 against 10. This is my summary,” he concluded.
Chew took to X to share about his injury the same night after the match. He explained that it was a suspected fracture and he was on the way to the hospital.
Source: @joelchew__ on X
The Lions will next play South Korea at home and away to Thailand in June. They must win both for a chance to progress to the next round of the qualifiers.
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Featured image adapted from Football Association of Singapore on Facebook and Facebook.
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