Vital Thach
Chad Thach would be the matchwinner for Singapore against Mongolia at the Ballota Stadium this evening, after a shock third-minute strike from Kurzemes Dūre's Toukta Tylaga, after Hilal Husayn lost the ball trying to run through the visiting defence. Naiman Altan's following lob was swatted aside by Fong Kim Yeng, after which Singapore retook control and equalized through Russia-based Kiran Chegondi.
Mongolia made a triple substitution at the start of the second half, including taking Tylaga off for new face Houlun Tolui, but both teams would struggle to put their opposing goalies under real threat despite two near-misses by Borte Lhavga. Matthew Hong's arrival in the 79th minute gave the Lions a shot in the arm, and three minutes later, he would slide it across to
Chad Thach, who duly fended Shiiter Saihan off to drill it past Khidyr Qutugh.
That was the Singapore side's cue to replace Chegondi with Zubaidi Khaled Silmi, and Thach might even have had another after the Lions' foward line swarmed and pressured Minghan Shiiter into a turnover just outside their own penalty area, but Qutugh sprang across to make the save. No matter, the day had been decided by the Grilled Number Ten anyhow!
