Against all odds, Lions stand tall

IT was a balmy evening on Tuesday when Singapore closed the SEA Games and the nation celebrated the country's record gold medal haul. At about the same time, some 5,320km away in Japan's Saitama prefecture, 11 young Singaporean footballers were busy performing heroics of their own.

Few gave the Lions any chance of avoiding defeat in the World Cup 2018 second-round group qualifying match against the four-time Asian Cup winners Japan.

The Blue Samurai were such overwhelming favourites in this fixture that local bookmaker Singapore Pools priced them at just 1.02 for a win, meaning that one would have to bet S$100 on a Japan victory just to earn a measly S$2 profit.