SINGAPORE: The Lions advanced to the ASEAN football championship semi-finals on Friday (Aug 7) after a 1-1 home draw with Indonesia.
At the Jalan Besar Stadium, a 66th minute Ilhan Fandi equaliser was enough to seal Singapore’s progression to the tournament semi-finals after Ragnar Oratmangoen put the away side ahead in the 47th minute.
Singapore will face the winners of Group B, which comprises Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Myanmar and Laos. With the final round of group games left to play on Saturday, Thailand currently top the group with nine points.
The result means that the Lions remain unbeaten in the tournament with eight points from four games. They finish second in Group A, behind Vietnam.
The Lions started their campaign with victories over Cambodia (2-1) and Timor-Leste (2-0) before a 0-0 away draw with Vietnam.
The Lions, ranked 148th in the world, went into Friday’s clash knowing that they would progress if they avoided defeat against the 118th-ranked Indonesia.
This is the second consecutive edition of the tournament where the Lions have progressed past the group stages.
At the last edition, the Lions, then coached by Tsutomu Ogura, made it to the semi-finals but bowed out after falling 5-1 on aggregate to eventual winners Vietnam.
In front of a crowd of 5,113, Indonesia almost got the perfect start with less than two minutes played. Towering teenager Mitchell Baker raced through on goal after some tentative defending, but Shah Shahiran pulled off a heroic block to stop a certain goal.
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