Singapore stormed to a three-goal first-half lead and held on to defeat Malaysia 5-3 on Saturday in the first leg of their World Cup qualifying match.
Malaysia opened the scoring in the first minute, when striker Safee Sali took advantage of confusion in Singapore's defense to poke in one of his two goals.
But Singapore took control with four successive goals, the last two coming in the final three minutes of the first half in front of 6,000 fans at Jalan Besar Stadium.
''We really wanted to win the game,'' Singapore coach Radojko Avramovic said. ''In the first half, we used our heads more than our emotions.''
Avramovic said earlier this week that Singapore would implement a new short-passing strategy - ditching ineffective long-ball tactics - which proved successful during a 3-2 victory in a friendly against Taiwan on Monday.
Malaysia battled back in the second period, scoring in the 68th and 69th minutes. But 40-year-old Singapore forward Aleksandar Duric sealed the victory with his second goal of the game in the 80th.
''The whole defense collapsed when Singapore was putting pressure on the flanks,'' Malaysia coach Rajagopal Krishnasamy said. ''We were too eager, especially my defense, to push up and then left in a lot of space and time for Singapore to harass us.''
Rajagopal said he was encouraged by his team's three away goals.
The return leg will be played in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
