Ahead of the second leg of the ASEAN Cup 2024 semi-final against Vietnam, the Singapore team is facing many difficulties after losing 0-2 in the first leg. The team from the Lion Island had an impressive performance throughout the 90 minutes and only conceded 2 goals in the final minutes of injury time.
Coach Tsutomu Ogura's team has no choice but to focus all their efforts on attacking in the second leg in the hope of beating Vietnam by at least 2 goals.
However, the Singaporean media did not rate the home team's ability to create surprises highly. The Strait Times newspaper commented: "Singapore players need a miracle to come back in the second leg of the semi-final after losing 0-2 in the first leg."
In addition to the historical factor when Singapore has not won against Vietnam since 1998, the media of this country also commented that, in addition to the disadvantage in terms of score, the Singapore team also had to endure great pressure from 20,000 spectators at Viet Tri Stadium. In addition, the cold weather was also a barrier for the Lion Island team, which is used to warm temperatures.
Meanwhile, Channel News Asia assessed the possibility of Singapore turning the tables in the second leg of the semi-final as follows: "Difficult but not impossible. The Lions keep their faith, despite facing great challenges. Singapore is currently 2 goals behind an unbeaten Vietnam team since the beginning of the tournament. They will have to fight through adversity in front of a crowd of home fans in the stands."
In addition to Singaporean media, the upcoming second leg of the ASEAN Cup 2024 semi-final at Viet Tri Stadium has also received a lot of attention from other countries, including Indonesia.
Before this match, CNN Indonesia published an article commenting on the different winning trend of the Vietnamese team in this year's tournament.
The author of this article commented: "Throughout this team's journey in the group stage, they have never scored a goal in the first half. All of the goals of the Vietnamese team up to this point in the 2024 AFF Cup have come in the second half."
The second leg of the ASEAN Cup 2024 semi-final between Vietnam and Singapore will take place at 8:00 p.m. tonight (December 29) at Viet Tri Stadium (Phu Tho province).
