Thailand beat Singapore 3-1 in first leg of ASEAN football championship semi-finals
Thailand extended its winning streak against Singapore to 11.
Singapore's Ilhan Fandi against Thailand during their ASEAN Championship semi-final first-leg match at Jalan Besar Stadium, Aug 15, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Wallace Woon)
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SINGAPORE: The Lions have it all to do in the second leg of the ASEAN football championship semi-finals after Thailand ran out 3-1 winners on Saturday (Aug 15).
Thai striker Teerasak Poeiphimai scored twice in the first half, while Singapore striker Shawal Anuar had his penalty saved.
Shortly after the break, Thai captain Seksan Ratree made it three before Ilhan Fandi reduced the deficit.
Coming into the game, the odds were stacked against the Lions, ranked 148th in the world, having not beaten the War Elephants in about 14 years.
Thailand are the highest-ranked side in this tournament, at 94th in the world. They had won the last 10 games against Singapore.
The Lions' last victory against the seven-time tournament champions came in 2012 – a 3-1 victory at Jalan Besar Stadium in the first leg of the final. Singapore went on to lift the trophy despite losing 0-1 in the second leg.
Singapore head coach Gavin Lee said after the match: "The fans didn't give up on us, we cannot give up on ourselves.
"So ultimately, we reduced the deficit by one ... with this group, with this team that we have, anything is possible."
The Lions started brightly in front of a full Jalan Besar Stadium, with Shawal’s shot on target blocked in the seventh minute.
Singapore continued to take control of proceedings, but it was from a Lions goal kick that Thailand took the lead against the run of play in the 14th minute.
Skipper Hariss Harun, receiving the ball from Izwan Mahbud, passed it into Kyoga Nakamura. He was immediately pressed by Thailand’s Seksan Ratree, who stole it.
Seksan slotted it to Teerasak, whose shot took a slight deflection off Irfan Fandi and past Izwan into the bottom corner.
Singapore continued to press for an equaliser, and a dangerous cross from Glenn Kweh from the right was punched away by Thai keeper Kampol Pathomakkakul.
Teerasak got his second in the 26th minute. A tidy exchange in the middle of the park saw Teerasak spray the ball out to an unmarked Waris Choolthong on the right.
The right-back put in a perfect cross for Teerasak, who had stolen in between Hariss and Lionel Tan to head into the net.
Singapore had a chance to reduce the deficit after the cooling break.
A long throw from Tan into a crowded Thai penalty box saw the ball fall to Jacob Mahler, who blazed over from a few metres out with the goal gaping.
But the video assistant referee called the referee to the pitchside monitor after a push on Anuar by Thailand’s Yotsakorn Burapha.
Anuar stepped up to take the penalty, but Kampol dived low to his right to keep out the shot.
Singapore continued to press and controlled possession for the rest of the half. Nakamura could not find the net and blazed over after Mahler had pulled the ball back from the right.
The Lions threw on top scorer Ilhan at half-time for Kweh, with Anuar moving to the right.
There was no let-up from Thailand after the break, with Seksan extending their lead in the 50th minute.
A loose pass from Tan was cut out by Thailand, before Patrik Gustavsson – who had come on for Teerasak in the first half – outpaced Tan and crossed for Seksan, who finished cleanly.
Lee brought on Ryhan Stewart for Tan in the 56th minute.
Ilhan stole in behind the Thai defence in the 59th minute and nearly rounded the keeper, before he was called back for offside.
The Lions had more possession, but their final ball was lacking, and the Thai defence was hardly threatened.
Thailand pushed Singapore on the counter, and in the 64th minute, Izwan was called into action, making a good save to deny Picha Autra in a one-on-one.
Ilhan was not to be denied his goal and in the 83rd minute, he curled a shot into the bottom corner of the goal from outside the box, drawing loud cheers from the crowd.
Singapore pressed for another goal. Despite the late rally, the Lions failed to test Kampol properly and the Thais ran out winners.
Thailand head coach Anthony Hudson said his players put in a solid performance.
"Proud of the guys against a very difficult opponent, but also we're very clear that it is only half-time, and we need to go back to Bangkok and make sure we deliver an even bigger performance," he added.
He said Singapore were a "complicated team" to play against and that the way the Lions were set up made it very difficult to build pressure against them.
The Lions put themselves in "quite a few unnecessarily difficult moments", said Singapore head coach Lee, adding that they made it easy for Thailand.
"But knowing the boys, you know, they will go again. They will recover as good as they can, and you know, they will want to go and right the wrong in that sense," he added.
Lee praised and thanked the fans, and said that the team kept pushing because of the support.
"I think the biggest disappointment for me and for us is that really we couldn't put in a performance and result that was worthy of the fan support tonight," he added.
"You know, they were amazing – even towards the end, they kept singing, kept cheering, kept pushing us, and I think that the boys just kept going because of that."
In the group stage, Thailand had won all four of their games and scored 10 goals with no reply.
Singapore's route to the semi-finals was far from easy. The Lions eked out a 2-1 win over Cambodia in the opening game, before beating Timor-Leste at home.
They then held Vietnam to a 0-0 away draw, before a 1-1 result with Indonesia sealed their progress.
Singapore finished second in Group A, behind defending champions Vietnam, who will face Malaysia in the other semi-final.
