Lions leave it late to beat Cambodia 2-1 in ASEAN Championship opener

– The feel-good factor in the Lions camp continues, but only just, as they kicked off their 2026 Asean Championship campaign with a late 2-1 win over Cambodia in their Group A opener at the Morodok Techo National Stadium on July 24.

They had to suffer spells under pressure against a Cambodian side missing key players who were not released by clubs outside the FIFA international window.

They also had a goal chalked off by the video assistant referee (VAR), but came good after Ilhan Fandi’s spectacular winner 11 minutes into added time.

The result is reminiscent of the three 2-1 away wins Singapore eked out in their successful Asian Cup qualifying campaign against Bangladesh, India and Hong Kong, as the Lions showed they can find ways to win when the going gets tough.

But Singapore coach Gavin Lee was understandably not entirely pleased despite the great escape.

The 35-year-old said: “We go into every game with certain agreements, but unfortunately, we didn’t stick to them today.

“At half time, we showed everyone the mirror. In the first half, there was way too much space in midfield and we suffered. There were many uncomfortable moments today and we allowed that to own us, so that’s a learning lesson.”

Four-time champions Singapore made the brighter start to open the scoring in the 22nd minute. From the right side of a back-three, Lionel Tan played a lovely through-ball from his own half for Shawal Anuar, who ran in between two defenders to score off the near post from a tight angle.

Singapore’s defence largely stayed organised in the first half and nullified the threats from Cambodia, who were boosted by five naturalised players, including Ivory Coast-born forward Abdel Kader Coulibaly.

However, the hosts returned after the restart a different beast in front of 27,790 fans, as local-born right-back Ouk Sovann punished Singapore for failing to clear their lines by thumping in a 55th-minute equaliser from range.

World No. 148 Singapore, who had beaten Cambodia in all four of their previous encounters in the tournament, could have been staring at an embarrassing defeat by their 175th-ranked opponents.

But goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud saved their blushes by stopping Sa Ty’s shot after the substitute cut inside Irfan Fandi in the 66th minute.

Harhys Stewart and substitutes Song Ui-young and Ilhan also had chances but could not convert, before the latter hit a scissors-kick winner just before the final whistle.

Ilhan, who had replaced Shawal in the 57th minute, had the ball in the net in the 89th minute, but the VAR found Jacob Mahler in an offside position after a check that took almost 10 minutes as the home fans erupted with glee.

Ilhan, who scored Singapore’s winner against Hong Kong in November 2025 that sent the Lions through to the Asian Cup, was not to be denied as he teed up a pass from Song to hit a beautiful scissors-kick winner.

The 23-year-old, who has seven goals from 26 international appearances, said: “VAR checks are part of football. Standing there waiting for so long, you run out of gas a bit. The officials did their jobs, and Coach Gavin told me to stop complaining and carry on playing, and that’s what I did.

“I just felt we were going to get that goal, and Alhamdulillah (Arabic for praise be to God), we got it.”

Lee added: “Staying focused in added time was very crucial. At that moment, it could go either way because momentum was shifting to Cambodia after the goal was disallowed. I told the boys at the drinks that we have six more minutes regardless, we just got to keep going despite what happened.

“We are very fortunate to have players like Ilhan to pull off that goal. It was a show of our resilience. As long as there’s a second left on the clock, we keep going, and that’s this group right here.

“Fortunately, we have some strong characters like Song and Ilhan who stepped up and we finished with a win, so it’s not all doom and gloom.”

While his team benefited from the VAR decision, Cambodia coach Koji Gyotoku said his team “lost focus” during added time, and said: “We didn’t do so well in terms of executing our tactics because we have new and young players in the team, and some of their condition are not good.

“I’m truly sorry we did not do well and conceded the goal at the end because of a few factors, one of which was the lengthy VAR check as we lost focus.”

Singapore will return home to take on Timor-Leste at the Jalan Besar Stadium on July 27 before playing Vietnam away on July 31 and concluding their group campaign against Indonesia at home on Aug 7.

The top two from each group will progress to the two-legged semi-finals a week later.

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