Dillon De Silva notched a goal and two assists for Sri Lanka across two games during the June international window as the Golden Army secured their first victory in their AFC Asia Cup Qualifying campaign.
The 23-year old first contributed to a historic victory over Brunei as Sri Lanka beating Tebuan for the first time in 16 years in a hard-fought FIFA International Friendly for the AFC Asian Cup Qualifier played in Bangkok, Thailand. Leon Perera became the national hero when he got on the on the end of an exquisite whipped cross from the left flank from De Silva, with the Sutton man playing his part in the golden goal shortly before the hour-mark to make the breakthrough after a tense first half ended goalless.
This famous win saw 200th-ranked Sri Lanka overcome 185th-ranked Brunei for the first time since their memorable 5-1 victory in 2009, avenging a 1-0 loss when the two sides met the previous year.
Victory in Thailand set the Golden Army up for their homecoming in the Asia Cup Qualifier, returning to the Racecourse International Stadium in Colombo where they hosted Chinese Taipei in a crucial clash, with Abdullah Al Mutairi’s side looking to qualify for the finals for the first time.
Dillon then made his second start in a row against the Taiwanese, and secured his second assist in as many games after picking up the ball on the left wing and showing a superb turn of pace to beat Chao Ming-Hsiu and whip a delightful cross that picked out Wazeem Razeek on the penalty spot, who turned and whacked a powerful half-volley past Huang Chu-Lin to open the scoring moments after the restart.
He then struck a wonderful second goal of his own four minutes later to set the Golden Army on their way to three points. Perera pressed Wu Chun-Ching in a dangerous area and combined with Razeek to win the ball back, who returned the favour and sent the it into the path of De Silva in front of goal who swept a brilliantly-struck effort past Huang Chu-Lin to extend the Golden Army’s advantage.
Sri Lanka then surely made the win safe when Adhavan Rajamohan sent a wonderful first-time volley into the far corner five minutes later, to secure a 3-0 advantage across the span of nine second half minutes.
Huang Tzu-Ming did score a consolation goal with 20 minutes to go, but Sri Lanka had done enough to seal an important three points in their pursuit of a place in the Asia Cup finals, which takes place in Saudi Arabia between January and February 2027.
They now sit third in Group D which is currently let by Thailand, and will next face Turkmenistan in October.
Photo Credit: Sri Lanka FA
