Singapore beat Cambodia 2-1 in ASEAN football championship

SINGAPORE: It was a much-needed victory but a performance that left much to be desired as Singapore kickstarted their ASEAN football championship campaign with a 2-1 win over Cambodia on Wednesday (Dec 11).

In front of a crowd of 12,391 at the National Stadium, a pair of first-half goals from Faris Ramli and Shawal Anuar gave Singapore three points against the plucky away side, which had held Malaysia to a 2-2 draw in their first game.

A 59th-minute strike from Sieng Chanthea led to a stressful second half for the Lions but Tsutomu Ogura's side clung on for the win.

The result means that Singapore go second in Group A behind leaders Thailand, who are top on goal difference. The other sides in the group are Malaysia, Thailand and Timor Leste.

The top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals of the tournament, also known as the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup.

But head coach Tsutomu Ogura was far from pleased.

"I'm not satisfied because we trained a lot (on) build-up (play) ... I don't know why, but we were leading (and played) so many long balls," he told reporters.

"It's three points and players gave a good fight, good running ... (But) on the football side we need more improvement. This is my responsibility."

It took the Lions just nine minutes to get on the scoresheet as Faris capitalised on a blunder from Cambodia goalkeeper Dara Vireak to tuck home.

Just seven minutes later, another howler from Vireak saw him under hit a pass into the path of the nippy Shawal, who made it two.

Ogura paid tribute to his forwards' pressing which he said forced the errors.

"If we were not chasing, they (will not make those) mistakes," said Ogura. "Normally (when the player is free) and there is no pressure, this would not happen."