In the first leg of the ASEAN Cup 2026 semi-final, Thailand defeated Singapore 3-1 away from home. This result opens up a great opportunity for Anthony Hudson's team to win a ticket to the final, because in the second leg of the semi-final they will play at home.
For his part, the Singapore team still believes in the opportunity to reverse the situation. Coach Gavin Lee shared: "We understand the current situation, as well as the score and results needed to advance. But I think it would be very dangerous to just focus on chasing the result. In football, things don't always go as you want, and if things don't go smoothly, it just adds unnecessary pressure.
After all, the most important thing is that we focus on what we can control, which is the performance on the pitch. The Singapore team is not satisfied with what they showed in the first leg. The positive point of this tournament is that we have the opportunity to redo it. Therefore, we aim to perform better in the second leg, have a worthy performance to continue.
In the first leg, Singapore controlled the ball more than their opponent. However, they made many mistakes in defense, as well as did not create too many dangerous opportunities to score against Thailand.
Striker Ilhan Fandi's late goal gives Singapore more hope of reversing the situation in the second leg of the semi-finals. However, statistics are all in favor of Thailand.
Accordingly, the Thai team has won against Singapore in the last 5 encounters, including the first leg of the semi-finals. The "War Elephants" have scored 14 goals, conceding 5 goals in this series of matches.
More specifically, Thailand has never lost to the Singapore national team (at home) in nearly 17 years, or 6,118 days. Their last defeat to Singapore took place on November 18, 2009, in the 2011 Asian Cup qualifiers, when they conceded the decisive goal with a header by Aleksandar Duric in the 3rd minute. Since then, Thailand has never lost to Singapore at home.
Those statistics help the Thai team confidently aim for another victory at home. Even, the country's media predicted that the home team would overcome the Singapore team 2-0.
The second leg of the ASEAN Cup 2026 semi-final between Thailand and Singapore will take place at 8:00 PM tonight (August 18).
