Malaysia end AFC Under-16 campaign with another loss to finish last in their group

PETALING JAYA: Winless Malaysia have finished last in the AFC Under16 Championship Finals in India.

Coach P. Somasundram’s boys lost 3-0 to South Korea in their final Group C match at the Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa on Thursday.

The South Koreans, who were physically bigger than the Malaysians, took a two-goal lead inside 15 minutes through Park Jeong-in (4th) and Cheon Seonghoon (14th pen) before Ko Jun-hee added the third in the 84th minute.

Despite the defeat, Somasundram said the team played much better than in their two earlier games.

“There was a lot of improvement today, but we conceded two early goals. It was difficult to come back. We tried our best but it was too difficult. In this group, we were the underdogs. Overall, we need to make a lot of improvements – against the West and East Asian teams.

“Against South Korea, I think we could have had a draw. After we were down 2-0, we had a few chances in the second half but the boys couldn’t convert them. We need to improve physically ... this was the glaring setback in the tournament.”

The Malaysian players from the Gambang Sports School in Pahang lost 3-0 to Oman in the opening game on Sept 16 and held Iraq to a 1-1 draw on Sept 19.

Oman and Iraq qualified for the quarter-finals with five points each while South Korea missed the cut with four points. The semi-finalists will qualify for the World Under-17 Finals in India next year.