Deluged with goals

Hodak uses floods to motivate Malaysia to trounce Indonesia

PETALING JAYA: National coach Bojan Hodak used Sunday’s floods in Penang and Kedah as his rallying point.

And it proved to be a masterstroke as his players raised to the occasion to whip Indonesia 4-1 in their penultimate Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-19 Group F qualifying match in South Korea yesterday.

Muhammad Hadi Fayyadh Abdul Razak (pic) was the hero at the Paju Stadium, scoring a brace in the sev- enth and 52nd minutes. Muhammad Akhyar Abdul Rashid (34th) and A. Shivan Pillay (47th) contributed the other goals.

Hanis Sagara netted Indonesia’s consolation in the 42nd minute.

It was Malaysia’s third win, having earlier beaten Timor Leste 3-1 and Brunei 1-0.

“We have a number of boys from Penang and Kedah so I used the floods there to motivate them. I told them to play for their families, friends and neighbours affected by the floods,” said Croatian Hodak.

“We played a tactically excellent game. The players carried out the game-plan to perfection. We were also very disciplined today and made it hard for Indonesia to get back into the game,” added Hodak.

With the win, Malaysia are now closer to clinching a spot in next year’s AFC Under-19 Championship Finals in Indonesia in October. Only the 10 group winners and the five best second-placed teams will qualify for the Finals.

Malaysia are already guaranteed of finishing second in the five-team group.

They are now second behind hosts South Korea on goal difference. Both have nine points from three matches.

Indonesia, who have completed all their matches, are third with six points while Timor Leste and Brunei have yet to collect a single point.

Hodak’s team will play South Korea in their final group match tomorrow. The South Koreans have scored 29 goals without reply in their wins over Brunei (11-0), Indonesia (4-0) and Timor Leste (4-0).

The 46-year-old Hodak believes a draw should clinch Malaysia a berth in the Finals as one of the five best second-placed teams.

“It will be our biggest test as well as a very difficult game. The Koreans are a top team in Asia. We will try to score an upset win or get a draw. And if we can’t we will try to avoid a heavy loss,” said Hodak.