Difficult but not impossible: Lions keep faith as they face Vietnam in second leg of ASEAN Championship semis

HANOI: It will take a monumental effort if Singapore are to make their first ASEAN Championship final since 2012.

The Lions are down two goals against a side unbeaten in this edition of the tournament. They'll have to reverse the deficit in front of a vociferous Vietnamese crowd at the Viet Tri Stadium in Phu Tho province on Sunday (Dec 29).

History doesn't favour the Lions either - they have not triumphed over Vietnam in a competitive fixture since 1998.

But they are keeping the faith.

"Everybody was angry and frustrated because we lost the game in Singapore," said midfielder Kyoga Nakamura at a pre-match press conference on Saturday, referring to the first leg of the semi-finals on Thursday.

The recently naturalised Singaporean was suspended for the game after accumulating two yellow cards in the group stage.

"But it is a very good thing (to have such emotions) … We have very good energy to change some things. We will use these emotions to play a good game," he added.

On Thursday, two late goals in the depths of stoppage time saw the Lions fall in the first leg of the ASEAN Championship semi-finals, which means they will need to win by a margin of three goals to progress.

The away goals rule does not feature in the tournament, which means that a two-goal victory for Singapore will result in extra time.

A controversial penalty from Nguyen Tien Linh in the 101st minute and a strike from naturalised Brazilian Rafaelson, now known as Nguyen Xuan Son, three minutes later gave Vietnam the victory.

The late penalty decision came after defender Shakir Hamzah was adjudged to have handled in the penalty box, but it seemed as if Shakir had been pushed by Nguyen Xuan Son.

"The decisions from the referee were not within our control. Now that