Lion City Sailors, a club from Singapore near reach to final after beating Sydney FC, a club from Australia scoring 2-0 in the AFC Champions League Two 2024/25 Semi-Final 1st leg at Jalan Besar Stadium, Kallang.
In a match filled with grit, precision, and moments of individual brilliance, the Singaporean side proved too clinical for their Australian opponents, who dominated possession but were left chasing shadows by the final whistle.
After a cautious opening 15 minutes, it was the Sailors who fired the first warning shot. Goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud launched a deep clearance that nearly caught Sydney off-guard, with Harrison Devenish-Meares having to dash off his line to deny Anthony Thy a clean chance.
Moments later, the deadlock was broken in spectacular fashion.
Midfield maestro Song Ui-young sprayed a perfectly weighted pass wide to Diogo Costa, who laid it off to Bart Ramselaar on the edge of the box. The Dutchman took a touch before unleashing a thunderous right-footed strike from 25 yards out, rattling the underside of the crossbar before nestling into the net—sending the home crowd into raptures.
Despite Sydney FC seeing more of the ball, they struggled to penetrate the disciplined and compact Lion City defense. The visitors’ only real attempt of the first half came in stoppage time, with Douglas Costa firing a free-kick well over the bar.
Lion City doubled their lead just eight minutes into the second half, once again through sheer quality.
Costa, pulling the strings again, released Thy down the left flank. With one sublime touch, the German forward ghosted past Alexandar Popovic and, against the odds, blasted a ferocious strike into the roof of the net from a tight angle—leaving Devenish-Meares no chance.
Sydney tried to claw their way back into the game, but Bailey Wright produced a heroic block in the 65th minute to deny Adrian Segicic, whose follow-up chance minutes later flew agonizingly wide.
Thy nearly made it 3-0 in the 81st minute after dancing past Rhyan Grant, but Devenish-Meares reacted sharply to make a vital foot save that could keep Sydney’s hopes alive heading into the return leg.
Credit Photo : LCS
