Soccer-Singapore frustrate holders Vietnam to stay top in ASEAN Championship

Soccer-Singapore frustrate holders Vietnam to stay top in ASEAN Championship

The Star Online - Sport·2026-08-01 08:01

July 31 (Reuters) - ⁠Singapore held defending champions Vietnam to a 0-0 draw ⁠in Hanoi on Friday to stay top of Group ‌A in the ASEAN Championship as late goals earned Indonesia a 3-0 win over 10-man Timor-Leste.

The Singaporeans frustrated Kim Sang-sik's title holders at My Dinh Stadium ​in front of a crowd of ⁠more than 31,000, who saw ⁠Nguyen Hoang Duc and Nguyen Tai Loc hit the bar for ⁠the ‌hosts.

The result leaves Singapore top of Group A with seven points from three matches, one point more ⁠than Indonesia, while Vietnam have four points. Indonesia and ​Vietnam, who ‌meet on Monday, have played twice.

The Indonesians will go into ⁠their clash ​with Vietnam in Bogor having picked up a second consecutive win as three late goals in Chonburi earned John Herdman's side victory over ⁠Timor-Leste.

Timor-Leste's Jackson Fowler was sent off ​for a pair of bookings inside the opening 21 minutes but the Ze Pedro-coached outfit frustrated their neighbours until deep into the ⁠final quarter of the game.

Shayne Pattynama eventually broke through in the 74th minute when he slotted home Dony Pamungkas' cutback, while Thom Haye doubled the lead four minutes later with a perfectly ​flighted free kick that found the top ⁠corner of Dylan Niski's goal.

Mitch Baker, who scored a hat-trick ​on his debut for Indonesia against Cambodia ‌on Monday, added the third with ​nine minutes left when he tapped in Ragnar Oratmangoen's low centre.

(Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Ken Ferris)

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