GAME OVER FOR UNLUCKY MALAYSIA
Kim Swee’s boys concede late penalty as Japan advance
APENALTY towards the end of the match ended Malaysia’s hopes of advancing to the Asian Games quarter-finals as they lost 1-0 to Asian football powerhouse Japan at the Chandrabhaga Patriot Stadium in Bekasi yesterday.
Malaysian defender Dominic Tan felled Ayase Ueda in the penalty box in the 88th minute, and the Japanese player made no mistake from the spot and broke Malaysian hearts.
The penalty effectively ended Malaysia’s brave challenge despite Harimau Malaya’s heroics earlier in stunning defending champions South Korea 2-1 in their group match.
During the last-16 encounter, it was the Japanese who controlled the match as they piled on the pressure in search of a goal.
Throughout the match, the Japanese players carried out waves of attacks on the Malaysian goal with Reo Hatate coming close to scoring in the 34th minute.
However they were kept at bay thanks to the determination and high level of discipline and resilience by the Malaysian players, especially goalkeeper Haziq Nadzli who kept the Japanese forwards at bay.
Malaysia tried to break the Samurai Blue’s dominance, and launched some attacks, which did trouble Hajime Moriyasu’s boys.
Malaysia’s best chance came during the last 10 minutes as Safawi Rasid’s two attempts on goal unluckily hit the post.
Syafiq Ahmad almost scored with a header in the 72nd minute but it went off the mark.
National coach Ong Kim Swee was disappointed with the defeat, but he pointed out that they came up against strong opponents and played quite well to give the Japanese a tough time before eventually conceding the penalty.
“Yes, this defeat is a bitter pill to swallow as we came very close to upsetting our opponents. However we have learnt a lot throughout our participation here and the lessons learnt will only make us better.”