In Singapore, the fans turned out in droves ...

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SINGAPORE - Unsuspecting patrons might be forgiven for thinking they had walked into a football stadium instead of a restaurant.

But that was the atmosphere at Brewerkz's Riverside Point outlet last night, as Singapore fans turned up in droves to watch the Lions reach the third round of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers (Asian Zone) with a 6-4 aggregate win over Causeway rivals Malaysia, after holding the Tigers to a 1-1 draw at the Bukit Jalil Stadium in Kuala Lumpur.

Some 150 patrons crammed into Brewerkz to watch the "live" screening of the match, with "Lions All The Way Crew", a 10-odd group of die-hard supporters, the loudest.

"We feel really proud," said Shahrul Matin, 15, a group member. "It wasn't easy for the Lions, playing in front of 85,000 Malaysian fans, but they threw their bodies on the line."

Another Lions fan, 35-year-old events management executive Thomas Guna, felt the performances against Malaysia were timely after the disastrous 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup campaign.

"This will really help restore the fans' belief in the team. We haven't seen them play like this in a long time," he said.

Throughout the match, the group led with chants like "Oh Duric, Duric, he's only 41, he's better than (former French star Zinedine) Zidane".

A bartender sporting a Malaysian flag on his sleeve was also teased by the crowd.

But the loudest cheers were reserved for Shi Jiayi, who scored Singapore's equaliser in the 72nd minute to cancel out Safee Sali's 58th-minute opener.

Last night's "live" screening on MediaCorp's Channel 5 at Brewerkz was one of many islandwide, including at the St James Power Station.

Singapore now joins 19 other teams, including Australia, Japan, South Korea, Bahrain and North Korea, in tomorrow's draw in Rio de Janeiro for the third round of the Asian Zone World Cup qualifiers, where 20 teams will be drawn into five groups of four each.

Although his country's 2014 World Cup dreams are over, Malaysian fan Siva Shanker Jayaraj said: "It's disappointing of course, but the better team won.

"We used to think Singaporeans were a passive bunch, but to see them creating such an atmosphere here was really great."