HONG KONG — Sven-Goran Eriksson started his stint as Philippines head coach with a 1-0 win over Singapore in their Asean Football Federation Championship opener on Tuesday evening.

The former England manager was appointed last month to lead Philippines through the Asean Championship before taking the Azkals to their first appearance at the finals of the Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates in January.

The Swede, though, has work to do if he is to build a team that will make much of an impression at the continental championships early next year, after a lackluster performance against the Singaporeans.

Despite dominating possession, the Philippines created little of note, with Phil Younghusband going closest to breaking the deadlock before Patrick Reichelt scored the only goal of the game 12 minutes from time.

The win gives the Philippines three points and sees them go level with Thailand, Indonesia and the Singaporeans in Group B of the regional tournament. The top two in the five-team group advance to the semifinals.

Indonesia bounced back from their opening day loss to Singapore to pick up a 3-1 win over East Timor, but only after going behind to the tournament minnows.

Rufina Gama gave East Timor the lead with a stunning curling strike from outside the area three minutes into the second half. But Alfath Fathier's low bouncing effort leveled the scores on the hour mark.

Indonesia went in front via Stefano Lilipaly's penalty nine minutes later and Beto Goncalves' towering header eight minutes from time put the result beyond doubt.

Meanwhile, Cambodia coach Keisuke Honda's first appearance on the touchline for a competitive fixture for the national team ended in disappointment on Monday as his side lost 4-1 to Myanmar. Honda missed the opening Group A loss against Malaysia on Thursday due to his ongoing playing commitments with Australia's Melbourne Victory. Chan Vathanaka gave the Cambodians the lead when he side-footed home from close range after Sos Suhana's break caught the Myanmar defense flatfooted.

But four goals in the second half gave the home side all three points in their first game in this year's tournament, with Hlaing Bo Bo opening and closing the scoring for Antoine Hey's team. Htet Aung and Aung Si Thugot the other two.

Malaysia moved to the top of the group with their second win as Norshahrul Idlan Talaha scored twice late on to secure a 3-1 victory over Laos in Kuala Lumpur. Phithack Kongmathilath for Laos and Zaquan Adha for Malaysia were the others scorers. — Agencies