PHU THO: Singapore’s slim hopes of making the ASEAN Championship final were dashed on Sunday (Dec 29) after a 1-3 loss to Vietnam at the Viet Tri stadium in Phu Tho.
This meant the Lions were eliminated 1-5 on aggregate after a 0-2 loss in Singapore last Thursday.
Tsutomu Ogura’s team had matched regional heavyweights Vietnam for large swathes of the first leg, and they continued in the same vein, showing no signs of being overawed away in Vietnam.
The Lions had the ball in the back of the net early on – a long throw from Lionel Tan caused problems in the box and Faris Ramli was eventually able to head home.
But celebrations were short-lived after a long Video Assistant Referee (VAR) check deemed he was offside following the initial header by Shawal Anuar.
“The referee is the decision-maker. We can’t talk about: ‘when (or) if.’ This is football,” said Ogura, when asked if that decision had changed how things unfolded.
In a contentious turn of events, VAR adjudged that naturalised Brazilian Nguyen Xuan Son was pulled by Tan in the penalty box shortly before half-time.
Tan was initially red carded, but that was changed to a yellow following a lengthy VAR check. Nguyen Xuan Son kept his composure to put his team 1-0 up in the 46th minute.
Source: CNA
