Singapore's Christopher van Huizen celebrates after scoring against Guam at the National Stadium on Oct 12, 2023. (Photo: Facebook/Football Association of Singapore)
Singapore's Christopher van Huizen celebrates after scoring against Guam at the National Stadium on Oct 12, 2023. (Photo: Facebook/Football Association of Singapore)
SINGAPORE: Singapore kicked off their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign with a 2-1 win over Guam at the National Stadium on Thursday (Oct 12).
First-half goals from Christopher van Huizen and Jacob Mahler put the Lions ahead before Jason Cunliffe pulled one back for the visitors late on.
The match was the first leg of a two-legged tie in the first round of Asian qualifiers, which features the 20 teams ranked between 27th and 46th in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Round 1 winners will join the top 26 AFC teams in the second round, a group stage. The rounds are also the first two rounds of qualifying for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup.
After piling on pressure for much of the first half with a series of chances, Singapore took the lead in the 35th minute with a stunning strike from Van Huizen from the edge of the box. It was his first international goal.
Mahler then doubled the Lions' advantage six minutes later as he thumped the ball home after Guam failed to deal with a Singapore corner.
Substitute Ilhan Fandi had the ball in the back of the net twice in the second half, but he was offside both times.
Guam were awarded a free kick in a dangerous position with the 90th minute approaching.
Captain Cunliffe stepped up and fired his side back into the match with a venomous left-footed strike that gave Singapore goalkeeper Hassan Sunny no chance.
Takayuki Nishigaya's men could not find another goal in added time, and they will rue their missed opportunities as they head to Guam for the second leg of the tie on Oct 17.
The winner of the tie will be in a group with China, South Korea and Thailand in the next round of qualifying.
Singapore and Guam had met on one previous occasion in 2015, when they played out a 2-2 draw at the Jalan Besar Stadium – with Cunliffe also on the scoresheet that day.
The Lions are currently ranked 157th in the world, while Guam – a territory of the United States with a population of about 170,000 – are just six spots off the foot of FIFA's men's ranking in 201st place.
Other Southeast Asian sides were also in action on Thursday, with Indonesia overwhelming Brunei 6-0, Myanmar beating Macao 5-1 and Timor-Leste falling 0-4 to Chinese Taipei while Laos and Cambodia drew with Nepal and Pakistan respectively.