Lions suffer setback before AFF Championship, falling 3-2 to Chinese Taipei

The defeat of the world No. 168 Taiwanese team, who are six places behind Singapore, was a huge disappointment for the home fans among the 6,764 spectators. The atmosphere in the stadium was a stark contrast to the excitement that had filled the air when the Lions mounted a comeback to secure a thrilling 3-2 victory over Myanmar on Nov 14.

Lions coach Tsutomu Ogura will point to the fact that he had shuffled his pack after the win over Myanmar – which was the Japanese coach’s first victory in charge – as he made nine changes to the starting XI and deployed an experimental 3-4-2-1 set-up instead of the previous 4-2-3-1.

Hariss Harun and Shah Shahiran, who had captained the team four days ago, were the only players to have kept their starting spots.

Lion City Sailors midfielder Hami Syahin, 25, wore the armband, keeping in line with Ogura’s recent approach to thrust younger players into leadership roles, while Balestier Khalsa’s Jordan Emaviwe earned his first cap.

The plethora of changes resulted in a slow and sloppy start by the hosts and the visitors took advantage of that in the 22nd minute when Christopher Tiao Tian-long lashed in an effort past Izwan Mahbud after the Chinese Taipei defender reacted quickest to a headed clearance by Christopher van Huizen.

The Lions went into the break lucky not to be further behind as Chinese Taipei hit the woodwork twice after scoring.

In the second half, the Lions continued their sluggish ways and in the 73rd minute, the visitors doubled their lead. Hariss lost the ball in midfield and Chen Hao-wei played the ball in behind a static defence to pick out Sweden-born Miguel Filip Sandberg, who slotted past Izwan.

The Lions narrowed the deficit in the 85th minute when substitute Irfan Najeeb scored from a Shawal Anuar knockdown in the box as the crowd roared into life for the first time. But Chinese Taipei restored their two-goal advantage when Ivory Coast-born Ange Kouame headed in the visitors’ third goal in stoppage time.

Shawal then responded with a close-range finish just a minute later, but the Taiwanese held on to end a seven-match losing streak.

During the teams’ last meeting in a friendly in September 2023, the Lions, under Takayuki Nishigaya, registered a 3-1 win.

Looking for a confidence boost ahead of the tournament, the Lions will now have to regroup as the AFF Championship – also known as the Asean Mitsubishi Electric Cup – looms.

After starting their Group A campaign against Cambodia at the National Stadium on Dec 11, they will face Timor-Leste (Dec 14, away), Thailand (Dec 17, home) and Malaysia (Dec 20, away).

Full report to follow.