AFF Suzuki Cup: Malaya Tigers now have to enter ‘Elephants’ den for battle
KUALA LUMPUR: Despite playing before a packed home crowd, Malaysia were unable to make headway against Thailand in their AFF Suzuki Cup semifinals first leg tie at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, on Saturday night.
The match ended in a goalless draw and now the Harimau Malaya will have to contend with ‘The War Elephants’ den, the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok for the return leg on Dec 5.
The roar of the 87,000- odd home supporters apparently was not good enough to spur the home boys to take a comfortable advantage to Bangkok.
The Harimau Malaya coached by Tan Cheng Hoe started off well and were able to keep the momentum for the first 20 minutes.
The attack trio of Muhammad Safawi Rashid, Mohamadou Sumareh and Norshahrul Idlan Talaha pul led of some neat manoeuvres but it was the defending champions who came close to scoring in the 24th minute when Nurul Sriyankem fired a piledriver which narrowly went over the cross bar.
A minute later, Sumareh also had a golden chance to put Malaysia ahead but his shot that even beat the Thai keeper was off by inches.
In the second half, the search for a goal advantage for Malaysia turned more desperate as Thailand hardened their defence.
Despi te the opponent s ’ defensive stance, the national squad continued to mount waves of attacks and Norshahrul again attempted to penetrate the Thai goal with a header in the 48th minute followed by a left leg slam ( 55th minute) but both were off target.
Norshahrul again missed another opportunity in the 65th minute in a one- two move with Muhammad Safawi when he failed to neatly stop the ball which went off the opponents’ goal.
Cheng Hoe then brought in two strikers, Ahmad Hazwan Bakri and Muhammad Shahrel Fikri Md Fauzi with 15 minutes left to strengthen the attacking machinery but they failed to change the scoreline till full time.
With the 0- 0 draw, Cheng Hoe’s boys will now be facing an uphill task to qualify for the final.
At the pos t- match pres s conference, Cheng Hoe admitted failure on the part of the strikers to capitalise on the opportunities they had.
“However, I am confident that we can turn the tables on them in the return leg,” he said.
Meanwhile, Thailand’s head coach, Milovan Rajevac praised his side for putting up a splendid performance while acknowledging that his charges failed to score any goals tonight as they felt nervous playing before such a huge crowd.
The 64-year- old coach, however, was confident that his players would rise to the occasion in the return leg.
“The Malaysian players played well tonight and gave their best but it’s only the first semi-final tie and the return leg match in four days time in Bangkok will decide which team will advance to the final,” he said through an interpreter. — Bernama