SELAYANG (1 March 2014) – Malaysia were held to a scoreless draw by the Philippines in a friendly tonight at the Selayang Stadium as Indonesia geared up to take on Saudi Arabia in an AFC Asian Cup tie in four days.
The hosts had the lion’s share of the possession and goal- scoring opportunities but could not make any of them count as Safee Sali, Mohd Amri Yahyah and Bobby Gonzales all fell short of the target. It was no better at the opposite end as Philip Younghusband and Mark Hartmann failed to make the breakthrough.
Malaysia were using the match to tune up for their AFC Asian Cup tie against Yemen in the United Arab Emirates on 5 March while the Philippines are preparing for the AFC Challenge Cup in May.
The friendly match was the first for Malaysian interim coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee and Philippines’ Thomas Dooley.
In the meantime, Indonesia have moved into their final phase of training under new coach Alfred Riedl with a total of 23 players in camp.
“Obviously, we have to watch out for the crosses other than making sure that we play a compact game against the Saudis,” added Riedl.
