BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (4 March 2012) – Hosts Brunei kept their hopes of a place in the semi-finals of the Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy 2012 is alive when they dispatched Malaysia 3-0 last night at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium.
Following their 2-1 loss to Vietnam in their previous match, Brunei were desperate for a win and they certainly showed no quarters when they scored all three goals against the Malaysians in the first half of the tie.
Striker Adi Said gave Brunei the lead with a strike in the eighth minute before Mohd Aminuddin Zakwan Tahir added the second goal ten minutes later. An own goal from Malaysia’s Gan Jay Han a minute later compounded the loss for the visitors who have only picked up a point in three matches.
Winless Malaysia also lost Mohd Hadid Azman in the 41st minute have to yet score a single goal in their campaign. With the win, Brunei are on the same six points with second placed Timor Leste in Group B.
In the meantime, Vietnam are comfortable at the top of Group B when they demolished Timor Leste 2-0 at the Berakas Sports Complex. A goal in each half of the game off Dao Duy Khanh in the 18th minute and Nguyen Xuan Nam in the 90th minute did the job for Vietnam who have picked up ten points from four matches.
For Timor Leste, the loss meant that they will have to win their last group game against Brunei tomorrow should they want to progress into the semi-finals of the meet this year. And they will have to do it without Raimundo Sarmento who was red carded in the 75th minute.
PIX courtesy of Hj Mohd Taha Hj Mohd Tahir
CURRENT HBT 2012 STANDINGS
GROUP A
| No | COUNTRY | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 1 | MYANMAR | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 3 | +10 | 9 |
| 2 | LAOS | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 6 |
| 3 | INDONESIA | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 4 | SINGAPORE | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 4 |
| 5 | PHILIPPINES | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 13 | -9 | 0 |
GROUP B
| No | COUNTRY | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 1 | VIETNAM | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 10 |
| 2 | BRUNEI DARUSSALAM | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 6 |
| 3 | TIMOR LESTE | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 6 |
| 4 | MALAYSIA | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | -5 | 1 |
| 5 | CAMBODIA | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 0 |
