Footballing Weekly: Road remains long and arduous for Singapore to shed minnows tag in Asia football

SINGAPORE — Two 2026 World Cup qualifying matches in the past week, zero points for Singapore. The defeats by South Korea and Thailand, while unsurprising, show that the Lions have a long and arduous climb if they are to shed their minnows tag and be among the top Asian footballing nations.

In both of the Asian Zone second-round qualifying matches, Singapore tried to play a defensive formation, and spring into counter-attacks to try and catch the Koreans and Thais off-guard. Against South Korea in Seoul last Thursday (16 November), they succeeded in holding off the Asian giants for almost an entire half.

But once striker Cho Gue-sung tapped in the opening goal just a minute before half-time, it was evident that there was no way back for the Lions. For much of that half when they were pegged back deep in their half, any attempt at building a quick counter-attack was lost within a few moments, as the Lions passes went astray under pressure from the beefy Korean defenders.

Such is the conundrum of trying to counter-punch as heavy underdogs - not only do the Lions need to be error-free in their defending, but they also have to be error-free in their counter-attacks. Otherwise, whatever precious chances they had in the game would be wasted in a flurry of misplaced passes.

The final score was a 0-5 loss as the Koreans relaxed after the opening goal and calmly carved the Lions apart with their superior skills and stamina. While few expected a upset from Singapore, it was sobering how quickly a good first half's work was undone by the rampant Korean players.

Good turnout at National Stadium, but Lions can't capitalise

On Tuesday, Singapore were back at the National Stadium to face familiar regional rivals Thailand in their second World Cup second-round qualifier. Again the Lions trotted out a defensive 5-4-1 formation, to some frustration among some netizens on their lack of ambition against a fellow Southeast Asia side - even though the Thais have not lost to Singapore since 2012.

This time, the defensive formation backfired within five minutes, as Thailand exploited the inexperience of young right-back Ryhan Stewart to conjure up a goal by Supachok Sarachat. Lions coach Takayuki Nishigaya quickly rang the changes by switching Stewart with the more experienced Nazrul Nazari at left-back, but the hosts already had their backs to the wall.

To their credit, Singapore grew into the match amid a good turnout of 29,644 fans, and crafted a superb team goal for Shawal Anuar to equalise before half-time. They continued to showed glimpses of quality as they came out of their defensive shell in the second half to try and grab a morale-boosting victory.

It was not to be, as Thailand's superior depth showed. They were able to call on veteran forward Teerasil Dangda - the all-time top scorer at the regional AFF Championship tournament - and the 35-year-old substitute made all the difference with two defence-splitting passes that released young forward Suphanat Mueanta to score twice for a 3-1 win.

Will Nishigaya still be around come next World Cup matches in March?

In both losses, the Lions seemed overmatched in both attack and defence. They often found it hard to keep possession long enough to craft cogent attacking plays, while the overworked defence line never seemed to be assured and error-free so as to prevent goals for entire games.

Nishigaya is caught in an unenviable situation where the skill levels of his players are not high enough to consistently execute his tactical plans to success. The Japanese, who had no coaching experience in his home nation's top domestic league before taking on the Singapore job, also seems unable to outwit rival national coaches nor inspire the Lions to upset the odds.

Will he still be around when the next pair of World Cup qualifying matches come around in March? His two-year contract is up in April next year, so the March matches against China could be his "acid test" to prove he has the ability to improve the Lions' fortunes.

Otherwise, it does seem that Singapore's World Cup qualifying hopes could remain mired in the Asian Zone second round for the foreseeable future, as they looked way short of having the abilities to beat South Korea or Thailand to advance out of the round.

The World Cup dream for Singapore, it seems, will continue to remain a distant hope.

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