A victory to savour for LionsXII

The goals took a while to come, but when they did, the celebrations that followed harked back to what many Singaporeans still recall as the “glorious Malaysia Cup days”.

At the Jalan Besar Stadium last night, the LionsXII did not win the Malaysia Cup, but they did beat Felda United 4-0, sealing the Malaysian Super League (MSL) title to render Saturday’s final league match at Kota Bharu against Kelantan academic.

That Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong turned up to watch and present the medals and trophy to the LionsXII was testament to the significance of this achievement by the side coached by V Sundramoorthy.

This is the first trophy for the Singapore outfit that was put together for Malaysian competitions, following an agreement between the football associations of Singapore and Malaysia which saw teams from both sides competing in each other’s leagues.

In many ways, this triumph came in the most trying of circumstances.

Last season, with a team dominated by seniors, the LionsXII finished second in the league, was one penalty kick away from the Malaysia Cup final and reached the last eight of the Malaysian FA Cup.

With the focus on preparing players for the South-east Asian (SEA) Games this December, the decision was taken to turf out all but five players aged 23 and above, leaving Sundram to work essentially with a bunch of youngsters, many of whom would have to juggle National Service and team commitments.

It was a task Sundram carried out so proficiently and seamlessly that many would not notice the enforced changes he made for the season to proceed smoothly.

Winger Faris Ramli, whose dazzling skills in the last two home matches won him many fans, has never played an away match, although he was on the bench in Johor Baru when the team travelled to Johor Darul Takzim in February.

And so this is the LionsXII of 2013, the MSL champions whose victory has been built on a solid foundation, with a bunch of players who, in the words of rivals coaches, are extremely disciplined in defending and deadly at set-pieces.

These qualities were in display last night as they stayed cool under pressure in the first-half, when Felda — surprisingly unambitious for a side battling relegation — did their best to blunt the hosts’ attacking threat.

It seemed ironic that the opening goal for the LionsXII would come with a little help from Felda, with defender Azrul Ahmad turning in Shahril Ishak’s free-kick two minutes after the break.

The stadium would erupt again 11 minutes later when Faris’s cross evaded the last Felda defender and Shahril made no mistake from three-yards out. Three minutes later, a Felda defender conspired to chest Nazrul Nazari’s cross back in front of Shahril, who set up Fazrul Nawaz for the simplest of tap-ins.

By then, the fans were singing “Campeones, campeones ... ole ole ole”, and the LionsXII responded with a little showboating that included a free-kick by goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud.

The icing on the cake came after 84 minutes, when Shahfiq Ghani finished off Shahril’s through ball for the fourth goal.

The LionsXII won and lost twice on their travels this season, pulling off six draws away from home, scoring eight goals and conceding the same number.

The number would also tell that they won the league at Jalan Besar, where they were unbeaten in the league, with 10 wins from 11 matches here, and 24 goals scored — while conceding just five.

That they roared at home, again and again with the fans behind them, was how the league was won.