AFF Cup: Thailand defeats Singapore by penalty

Chappuis' late penalty helped Thailand beat Singapore 2-1 in the second match of Group B of the 2014 AFF Suzuki Cup on the evening of November 23.

Despite the support of thousands of home fans, Singapore was still surprised by Thailand's fast, fast-paced play. That was the reason why "The Lions" appeared confused, lost focus and created loopholes for the team from the Land of the Golden Pagoda to exploit. As a result, in the 10th minute, Mr. Kiatisak's team took the lead after Mongkol's close-range tap-in from a teammate's open cross.

Thailand (blue) had a good start with 3 full points.

But Singapore refused to give up so soon. On the contrary, the loss seemed to hurt the pride of the hosts, causing the team that had won the Southeast Asian championship four times to rise up strongly. And 9 minutes after conceding the goal, Singapore restored the balance with their signature aerial attack. Amri rushed in with a lightning-fast header after a cross from his teammate from the right wing, tying the score at 1-1 for Singapore.

A missed opportunity for Singapore

Two early goals made the game more exciting and open. However, because they conceded an early goal, both Thailand and Singapore played very focused with a pressing style, not leaving any space for the opponent to exploit like in the first 20 minutes of the match.

During the remaining 70 minutes, the situation on the field was quite balanced when the two teams mainly fought for the ball in the midfield area. Therefore, the opportunities that Thailand and the home team created towards each other's goal were not many.

It seemed that both teams would have to accept a draw, but in the 88th minute, a Singapore defender let the ball touch his hand in the penalty area, leading to an unfortunate penalty. Chappuis did not miss this opportunity to bring all 3 points to Thailand by setting the score at 2-1.

Thus, Thailand is temporarily at the top of Group B with 3 points from the first round of matches. Malaysia and Myanmar both have 1 point so they are in the next positions. Losing in the opening round, Singapore is at the bottom.

According to Bongdaplus