MANILA, Philippines - Singapore Lions, the Philippine Azkals’ tormentor in the semifinals, seized the upperhand in the AFF Suzuki Cup finals after hacking out a 3-1 victory over Thailand in the first leg at Jalan Besar Stadium Wednesday night.
Khairul Amri, the man responsible for lifting the Lions to their finals-securing 1-0 triumph over the Azkals last week, again played a key role as he knocked in the marginal goal at the 61st minute.
Twenty-nine minutes later, Baihakki Khaizan fired a shot from close range to complete the Lions’ domination, 3-1, and hand them a two-goal lead heading to Saturday’s return match at Supachalasai Stadium in Bangkok.
“I think we all expected a good game and it was,” said Singapore coach Radojko Avramovic, whose wards, like the War Elephants, are chasing a record fourth Asean title overall.
“As I said before the game, these are the two best teams in the competition – Singapore and Thailand – and I think everybody really enjoyed this game. It was exciting; games like this always finish with a few goals.The team that keep cool and are patient will succeed in the end. I think we were that team in this game.The players did exactly what we’ve been preparing and it was a great job.”
Amri, whose dagger of a goal previously killed the Azkals in the Last-4, went to work after getting the ball from the left flank from Alexandar Duric. He made a great turn in the box to get past Nattaporn Panrhit then fired a low shot that beat Kawin Thammasatchanan.
Amri’s third goal of the tourney came just two minutes after Thai midfielder Adul Lahso had scored the equalizer.
Singapore earlier got on the scoreboard first via Fahrudin Mustafic’s twice-taken penalty in the first half.