For a large part of the first half, Singapore was literally swimming against the tide with the Indians dominating much of the possession. More spaces needed to be created to move the ball forward, and we have to be reminded that this is not a rugby match! Song's double against India saved the campaign (file snap) Song Ui-young's (file pictured) equaliser before the interval put the much-needed confidence back into the Lions. The Lions midfield was struggling to hold up the home team, who were storming through the middle of the park. It was a question of whether Singapore could hang on to the lead after Song doubled his tally in the 58th minute. Simply because too much space was given to India, which allowed them the flexibility to plan their movements to cocoon the visitors at their own half. It wasn't easy when the Lions literally threw their bodies towards the end of the game to salvage this important 2-1 win over India, keeping the AFC Asian Cup qualifying campaign alive...
Facing the "lobang" at Kallang I still have that distraught feeling after the blunder that allowed India to level the game at the closing stages of it. We did not utilise the numerical advantage since the early period of the second half. The back pass that led to the Indian equaliser was secondary when Lions were guilty of not being more aggressive in the final third. It was either we intended to hold the ball long enough to frustrate the Indian or we just couldn't find our way to break them down at their back. Did the substitution in the second half played a part when some questioned the effectiveness of it? I don't know? I am just a photographer. ℹ️ For those unbeknownst, the abovementioned thoughts were from the AFC Asian Cup qualifying match between Singapore and India played on 9th October 2025 that ended in one-all draw. - 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎'𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒍 -