Singapore come from two down to avoid embarrassing loss to Laos in Southeast Asian Games opener

Singapore’s hopes of a medal within the males’s soccer event of the thirty first Southeast Asian Video games have been dealt a blow proper from the off, though it may have been far worse as they got here from two objectives down to attract with Laos 2-2 of their Group B opener.

Laos, thought to be the weakest crew within the group primarily based on their FIFA world rating, confirmed the better endeavour from the opening whistle on the Thien Truong Stadium in Nam Dinh, and duly took the lead after 14 minutes.

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Latching onto a cross 20 yards from, Ekkamai Ratxachak superior simply inside the world earlier than lashing a ferocious shot into the highest nook to interrupt the impasse.

5 minutes after halftime, the Laotians doubled their lead with the Singapore defence as soon as once more wanting inattentive and too straightforward to carve aside, with Chony Wenpaserth emphatically ending previous Zaiful Nizam after being put by way of by Chanthavixay Khounthoumphone’s probing through-pass.

Singapore did have their possibilities all through the sport with Shah Shahiran’s deflected drive coming again off the bar, whereas Khairin Nadim pressured a sensible save down low from Laos goalkeeper Keo-Oudone Souvannasangso, though Zaiful additionally did play his position in guaranteeing the Lions had been nonetheless within the contest with a handful of respectable stops.

With a minute remaining, Singapore did lastly get on the scoresheet when the Laotians’ failure to clear their strains from an assault down the road allowed Glenn Kweh to pounce on a unfastened ball and smash a shot into the again of the online — though it did appear to be it might be a mere comfort.

However within the sixth minute of harm time, the Singaporeans pulled off a exceptional comeback when Saifullah Akbar’s flick-on header landed kindly for makeshift goal man Jordan Emaviwe, who displayed an actual striker’s intuition to deftly flick the ball over the advancing Souvannasango to salvage a degree for his facet.