Football: Singapore edged out by China in friendly match

SINGAPORE: Singapore stretched China in an international friendly on Friday (Jun 5) but fell to a 1-2 home defeat.

At the Jalan Besar stadium, first half goals from Sai Erjiniao and Zhang Yuning were enough to give the away side the victory despite a 76th-minute Ilhan Fandi strike.

China are 94th in the FIFA world rankings, while the Lions are 149th.

This was the second of two friendlies for Lions as part for preparations for next month’s Asean Championship and the 2027 Asian Cup, where China will also feature.

Gavin Lee’s men beat Mongolia 4-0 on Sunday and they started the game looking assured in possession.

But it was their opponents who looked much more clinical and they almost took the lead in the 13th minute, only for Wei Shihao’s header to rebound off the post.

Minutes later, they got their reward as the Brazilian-born naturalised midfielder Sai powered a header past a stranded Izwan Mahbud.

Singapore’s first clear-cut chance came in the 21 minutes as a brilliant switch from Shah Shahiran started a flowing move, but Ryhan Stewart skied over.

And the Lions came even closer about ten minutes later as a China defender headed past his onrushing keeper Li Hao with Shawal Anuar pressing hard.

However, Li recovered well to grab the ball on the line with the nippy attacker pressing.

China doubled their lead with five minutes left to play in the half after Rustam Lutfullin adjudged that Singapore skipper Hariss Harun handled in the box. Up stepped Zhang to smash home.

The Lions dominated possession in the early exchanges of the second half and almost got their reward in the 57th minute.

Excellent work from Ryhan saw him turn past his man and fire a shot, which was turned away. The resultant rebound from Glenn Kweh was then bravely