Singapore: Singapore made a winning start to their ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup™ 2024 campaign as they edged Cambodia 2-1 at National Stadium on Wednesday.
Faris Ramli and Shawal Anuar scored after capitalising on goalkeeping errors from Cambodia’s Vireak Dara to put the hosts 2-0 up inside 16 minutes of the Group A contest.
Siang Chanthea gave Cambodia hope when he scored just before the hour mark but the Singapore defence held on for a hard-fought victory in front of their supporters.
Singapore goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud was the first to be tested by a Yudai Ogawa shot in the eighth minute but his counterpart Vireak was about to have a night to forget in Cambodia’s goal.
Disaster struck for the visitors a minute later from a routine backpass from Nick Taylor to Vireak as the 21-year-old custodian mistimed his kick allowing Ramli to roll the ball into an open goal and score in four consecutive editions of the ASEAN Championship.
The Lions doubled their advantage seven minutes later as it was Shawal who capitalised on a poor pass from Vireak this time and finished first-time into the goal to make it 2-0.
Stunned by Singapore’s quick double, Cambodia probed for a way back and Chanthea’s fierce shot from inside the box was fisted away by Izwan in the 18th minute .
Vireak produced a good save in the 25th minute to keep out a Shahdan Sulaiman free-kick while at the other end, Ogawa’s strike from a dead ball brushed the roof of the net on its way out in the 33rd minute.
It was Cambodia who ended the half strongly with Kim Sokyuth and Taylor having sights at goal, but Koji Gyotoku’s side still trailed by two goals as they dispersed for the half-time break.
Searching for a lifeline, Cambodia introduced Hav Soknet and Sa Ty in place of Abdel Kader Coulibaly and Lim Pisoth at the interval.
Soknet almost made an instant impact as he drove forward with the ball and released Chanthea inside the box only to see his effort saved by Izwan with barely a minute past after restart.
But there was more disappointment for the visiting side as Sokyuth pulled up with what looked like a hamstring injury and was replaced by Min Ratanak in the 53rd minute.
However, Gyotoku’s men pulled one back in the 59th minute when Ty did well to escape his marker Christopher van Huizen and found Chanthea, who was left unmarked inside the box and turned home from 12 yards out to halve the deficit.
Singapore almost had a howler of their own as Safuwan Baharudin’s pass to his goalkeeper was intercepted by Soknet, who failed to poke it past Izwan in the 69th minute.
Cambodia's Kan Mo was carried off on a stretcher after a clash of heads with Taufik Suparno from the resulting corner shortly after, but they remained on the front foot for the majority of the second period with Ogawa and Ty going close with shots from distance.
But despite dominating the possession and chances and not letting Singapore record a single shot on target after the break, Cambodia failed to find an equaliser and fell to their first defeat in the tournament.
Singapore will hope to make it two wins out of two matches when they take on Timor-Leste in Hanoi on Saturday while Cambodia's next game is also agaisnt Timor-Leste on 17 December.
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