Ikhsan Fandi brace helps Lions end six-match winless run with 3-1 victory over the Maldives

Singapore's Ikhsan Fandi celebrating after scoring his first of two goals in the 3-1 friendly win over the Maldives on June 5 at Bishan Stadium. ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR

David Lee

UPDATED Jun 06, 2025, 05:55 AM

Thanks for sharing!

SINGAPORE – With Ikhsan Fandi marking his international football return with a brace to end the Lions’ six-game winless streak, Singapore will head into their Asian Cup qualifier in Bangladesh on June 10 with some confidence.

The difficult spell ended on June 5 with a 3-1 friendly win over the Maldives in front of 2,297 fans at the Bishan Stadium.

The Lions’ previous victory was a 3-0 win over Timor-Leste during the group stage of the Asean Championship in December.

Said Ikhsan, 26: “I’m just happy to be back with the national team, happy to help with the goals, and happy that we won.

“It’s important for the team to get the victory and the goals and get the confidence up. But we have a lot of things to work on. We have to regroup and focus on the next game... because that’s the most important one.”

National coach Tsutomu Ogura was also pleased with Ikhsan’s performance and hopes he can continue improving as he works his way back to full fitness.

He said: “I’m happy he could run for 60 minutes and score from set piece and open play. This is good for his confidence against Bangladesh. If we have good delivery, he can score.”

Ogura’s men had scored just once in their last five matches and are missing star forward Shawal Anuar, who is set to undergo a medical procedure during this period. But they were initially bright and clinical in attack against the woeful visitors, whose domestic league was suspended for the last two years.

The Japanese made five changes to the side who started the goal-less Asian Cup qualifier against Hong Kong in March as fit-again striker Ikhsan made a timely return as the lone target man in a 4-5-1 system.

Young Lions forward Amir Syafiz was handed his Lions debut on the wing, South Korea-born midfielder Song Ui-young returned to the fold as his mother recovers from a stroke, while Jordan Emaviwe slotted in at left-back for his fourth cap and Irfan Najeeb started at right-back.

Almost all the incoming players had a hand as the Lions opened the scoring.

Amir had already stung the palms of Hussain Shareef with his fourth-minute effort, before Amirul Adli headed in Song’s corner three minutes later for his first international goal on his 35th appearance.

Ikhsan, who had not played for the world No. 161 Lions in the past year due to a series of injuries, then cushioned in a header off Harhys Stewart’s left-wing cross in the 20th minute before nodding in Song’s free kick 12 minutes later for his 19th and 20th international goals on his 39th outing.

While Singapore generally played well in the first half, there will also be some areas of concern in defence, most notably how susceptible they looked in transition and how they conceded large swathes of space and opportunities to their 164th-ranked rivals.

Following a defensive lapse, the Maldives’ Ali Fasir found himself one-on-one with Izwan Mahbud but thumped his shot against the bar in the 44th minute.

Ten minutes after the restart, Hamza Mohamed managed to find Ali in the box again, but the latter volleyed wide.

The introduction of Faris Ramli, Kyoga Nakamura, Ilhan Fandi and Taufik Suparno did add attacking threat, as Song hit the post in the 61st minute, but it was the visitors who created more opportunities as the match was reduced to walking pace at times in the second half.

In added time, Safuwan Baharudin needlessly fouled Hassan Nazeem in the box for Ahmed Rizuvan to net a consolation penalty to remind the Lions not to be complacent against 183rd-ranked Bangladesh in five days’ time.

Despite the morale-boosting win, Safuwan admitted the team were not happy with the overall performance.

The defender flagged a semblance of imbalance as some of the overseas-based players finished their season much earlier than their local-based teammates, adding that the players were tired and “struggling towards the end”.

Ogura also did not sugarcoat the result, saying: “After 60 minutes, the ball went back and forth. We didn’t protect the ball, we lost balance, and we could see the counter-attacking coming and a 3-3 scoreline was possibble.

“If we play like this, we will have no chance against Bangladesh. In these two or three days, we must improve.

“I believe in the football gods. If we miss two or three chances, it is likely the opponents will score with the one opportunity they create. So, I told the team, 3-0 is not enough, we must finish our chances. If we score four, five, six, the opponents are finished , they would give up .

“This is the mentality we need to have across all levels to take Singapore football to a higher level.”

David Lee is senior sports correspondent at The Straits Times focusing on aquatics, badminton, basketball, cue sports, football and table tennis.

More on this Topic

Join  ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Thanks for sharing!