Lions Bring Back Belief But Still Need To Improve

The Lions' run to the Asean Championship semi-finals has reignited belief in the national team, said observers a day after Singapore's campaign was ended by Vietnam in the last four.

- Deepanraj Ganesan

Amid video assistant referee (VAR) drama across two legs, the Lions lost 5-1 on aggregate to the Golden Star Warriors in only the second time that they had reached the semi-finals since they won their fourth title in 2012.

Tsutomu Ogura's charges achieved that despite the unavailability of key players such as midfielders Jacob Mahler (injured) and Song Ui-young (family matters) and brothers Irfan, Ikhsan and Ilhan Fandi (not released by clubs).

Football commentator and former Singapore Premier League (SPL) coach Khidhir Khamis said: "The team has brought the belief back to the fans and regaining that belief is the most important takeaway from the tournament."

Balestier Khalsa coach Peter de Roo has observed a new-found mentality among this pride of Lions.

"There is a little less fear and they try to play (good football)," said the Dutchman, a former technical director at the Football Association of Malaysia.

"They are also aggressive when they don't have the ball. So there's definitely a good spirit within the team by the looks of it."