China's Zhang Yuning (front) converts a penalty during the friendly against Singapore on June 5, 2026. Photo: VCG

China's men's national football team defeated Singapore 2-1 in an international friendly on Friday in Singapore thanks to goals from Sai Erjini'ao and Zhang Yuning.

China opened the scoring in the 16th minute when Xie Wenneng's cross found Sai in the box and the midfielder nodded home with a towering header.
 
A hand ball by Singapore captain Hariss Harun gifted China a penalty and striker Zhang calmly sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to double the lead in the 41st minute. 
 
Singapore tightened the screws in the second half and a defensive error allowed Ilhan Fandi to pull one back for Singapore in the 76th minute. 
 
At 35, Chinese striker Wu Lei came on as a second-half substitute to make his 100th appearance for the national team, reaching a major career milestone. 

China will next take on Thailand in East China's Zhejiang Province on June 9, when Shao Jiayi will make his home debut as head coach of the national team. 
 
During the second stage of 2026 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers in March 2024, China drew Singapore 2-2 away before cruising to a 4-1 home victory with Wu contributing four goals and an assist across the two games. 
  
Meanwhile, China failed to qualify for this year's World Cup after suffering a 1-0 away defeat to Indonesia in the Asian qualifiers in June. 

Shao got off to a winning start as head coach of the national team in March when China defeated World Cup debutant Curacao 2-0 with Wei Shihao and Zhang finding the net. 

In the following friendly, China lost 2-0 to Cameroon after conceding twice in the opening 10 minutes.