GUTSY SHOW FROM MALAYSIA
Kim Swee’s boys go down fighting to Bahrain
FIELDING mostly reserve players, a gutsy Malaysia side went down 3-2 to Bahrain in their final Group E match at the Asian Games yesterday.
Only three players — Baddrol Bakthtiar, Adam Nor Azlin and Muhamd Syahmi Safari — were retained from the lineup who upset South Korea 2-1 earlier.
The squad, however, still put in a spirited performance at the Wibawa Mukti Stadium and in fact went ahead through Syahmi in the 20th minute.
But Bahrain pulled level through Mohammed Hardan in the 33rd and then went ahead, thanks to a Hamad Alshamsan strike in the 37th
Bahrain looked set for a comfortable victory when they went 3-1 up, thanks to a second Hardan strike in the 89th.
However, Malaysia managed to pull one back via a Safawi Rasid penalty two minutes into injury time.
National Under-23 coach Ong Kim Swee, however, was not happy with his charges’ performance.
“The players did not play as we wanted them to. It was tough for us to compete against Bahrain with eight changes to the team,” said Kim Swee.
“It was not a good result, I am not happy with one or two players who were given a chance. They did not give the commitment we expected from them.”
The result, however, had no effect on Malaysia as the squad had already secured their status as group champions, thanks to their earlier wins against Kyrgyzstan (3-1) and defending champions South Korea.
The Harimau Malaya will next face heavyweights Japan in the round of 16 at the Patriot Chandrabhaga Stadium in Bekasi on Friday. Japan had finished runners-up in Group D behind Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Son Heung Min scored the only goal with a sumptuous volley as South Korea beat Kyrgyzstan 1-0 to reach the last 16 and keep alive his hopes of avoiding national service.
The Tottenham Hotspur forward, one of the over-age players in the nominally under-23 competition, needs South Korea to win the gold medal in Indonesia if he is to be exempt from two years service in his country’s military.
The reigning champions flirted with an early exit from the tournament when, having hammered Bahrain 6-0 in the opener without Heung Min, they were stunned 2-1 by Malaysia on Friday.
The victory was enough to send the Koreans through to a last 16 meeting with fellow Asian heavyweights and Group A winners Iran on Thursday.