For 45 minutes at the Singapore National Stadium, the 116 places separating Singapore and Paraguay in the FIFA rankings looked a lot smaller than they do on paper. Then came a goal in first-half stoppage time, and the evening slowly slipped away from the Lions.
Paraguay won 4-1 in the opening match of the Mizuho Blue Challenge, with Gustavo Caballero scoring twice in front of 14,316 supporters. The contrast between the two halves, though, is what Gavin Lee will be thinking about most.
Caballero strikes early
Paraguay didn’t take long to find a way through. Seven minutes in, Ryhan Stewart and Eduardo Delmas went down in a tangle on the right flank. Alexandro Maidana kept the move alive, and his delivery found Caballero, who had been allowed to drift free in the box. Izwan Mahbud had no chance with the header.
Caballero almost made it two midway through the half after getting the better of Jacob Mahler in a foot race, but Izwan got down well to deny him.
The Lions responded with their best spell of the night, and the equaliser came from work done without the ball. Safuwan Baharudin and Song Ui-young swarmed Matías Galarza near halfway to win possession. When Kyoga Nakamura sent the ball into the box, Song got just enough of his head on it, and it went in off the upright past Orlando Gill.
Ilhan Fandi then had a sight of goal after Stewart picked him out, and Farhan Zulkifli was a split second from shooting when a Paraguay defender nicked the ball off his toes.
Instead, it was Paraguay who scored next. Mauricio struck in added time at the end of the half, a goal that arrived at the worst possible moment for the hosts.
Paraguay pull clear after the break
Gastón Olveira replaced Gill at the interval, and Paraguay looked the calmer side from then on. Their third came eight minutes after the restart. A cross from just outside the area slipped out of Izwan’s grasp, and Caballero was on hand to tap into the unguarded goal.
Izwan made amends soon after with a strong stop that denied Caballero a hat-trick. The fourth goal arrived late on and came from two substitutes, with Miguel Almiron setting up Julio Enciso to finish.
Looking ahead
Singapore came into the tournament off a 6-0 loss to Malaysia at the FIFA ASEAN Cup, so a lively first half against a World Cup side is something to hold on to. Brazil are next for the Lions on 17 November, and Paraguay meet Japan the same day.
