Southeast Asia Rest of SEA

Singapore slump to Asian Cup qualifier defeat against Chinese Taipei

Singapore suffered an embarrassing 2-1 defeat at home by Chinese Taipei in an Asian Cup Group E qualifier on Saturday evening.

The crowd at Jalan Besar Stadium were expecting to see the Lions secure a comfortable victory when Hariss Harun’s header past Chiu Yu-Hung into the top left corner in the sixth minute.

However, the visitors equalized before half time by a stunning volley from Belgium-born Xavier Chen in the 30th minute.

Despite having more possession, V.Sundramoorthy’s side could not restrain the counter-attack playing from opponents.

The victory was sealed for Chinese Taipei when Chen Chao-An headed into the empty net to pick up an unlikely three points for the team in the 60th minute.

With this defeat, Singapore now have one point from two games in the qualifying campaign. The Lions will prepare themselves for a high-profile friendly against Argentina on Tuesday before the next AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Turkmenistan on 5 September.