Football: Lions' second chance at World Cup glory

How far will Singapore go on the road to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup?

Having triumphed over bitter rivals Malaysia to gain a spot for the next round of qualifiers, the Lions join 16 other Asian teams including Bahrain and North Korea for a chance in the finals.

Favourites Australia, South Korea and Japan are almost assured of Asia's four automatic spots for the finals, leaving just that one spot for a battle royale on the pitch.

Just who Singapore will next play will be known on Saturday, where the 20 Asian teams will be drawn into five round-robin, home-and-away groups of four teams each, with the five group winners and five runners-up advance to the next round.

Singapore is pooled for the draw with Iran, Iraq, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Lebanon, Uzbekistan, Syria, China, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan.

In this group, the UAE, Iraq and Indonesia are aiming to add to their solitary World Cup campaigns of 1990, 1986 and 1934 respectively.

After that round which will see the teams whittled down to 10, the nations will play two round-robin, home-and-away groups of five teams each with the top two in each pool heading for the finals while the two third-placed sides play-off with the winner then facing a continental play-off.

Forty-three countries from the Asian continent started out on the road to Brazil, and already it has kicked off to an exciting campaign for Singapore soccer fans.

In the space of five days, Singapore and Malaysia revived their deep-seated soccer rivalry as they locked horns on both sides of the Causeway in their quest for World Cup glory.

In the return match played in Kuala Lumpur, the home team had the advantage but the Lions managed to prevail after a 180-minute titanic battle.

With a 5-3 lead from their first match played at the Jalan Besar Stadium last Saturday, the onus was for Singapore to maintain its slender advantage.

The situation seemed tenuous at the Bukit Jalil stadium on Thursday night, when the Malaysian grabbed the lead in the second half.

But the new-look Lions, led by skipper Sharil Ishak and Hariss Harun, redeemed themselves with a tenacious and disciplined display to overcome the reigning SEA Games champion and ASEAN Cup holders.

Bearing the wrath of 90,000 Malaysian fans baying for revenge, Singapore recorded a 1-1 draw at the final whistle to enter the third round of the 2014 World Cup Asian qualifiers on a 6-4 aggregate.

For Singapore's coach Radojko Avramovic, the victory will surely silence his detractors and erase memories of a dismal 2010 which saw the Lions failing to qualify for the last 16 of the Asian Cup; crashing out in the group stages of the ASEAN Suzuki Cup, and the disbanding of the national team.

For the second successive time, he will be guiding the Lions into the third round of Asia's World Cup qualifiers to take on the best of Asia's football and a chance of football's Holy Grail.

In the previous World Cup 2010 qualifying campaign, the Lions were drawn against Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Uzbekistan, where they finished third in the group with six points from six games, after defeating Lebanon twice during the campaign.

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