HARDER FOR MALAYSIA IN THE RETURN TIE

Bahrain showed that they certainly meant business when they took a 2-1 lead at the break with two early goals off Abdulla Baba Fatadi in the fourth minute and Jaycee Okwunwanne in the 15th minute.

Malaysia fought back to give themselves a fighting chance in the second half when midfielder Mohd Bunyamin Umar scored from close range just before the break.

However, Bahrain were quick to restore their two-goal advantage when Mahmood Abdul Rahman scored the third goal for the homesters in the 55th minute before Alaa Hubail converted a late penalty deep in injury time for the final scoreline.

IN THE MEANTIME, Myanmar suffered the humiliation of being whitewashed by China 7-0 in Foshan while Timor Leste falter to Hong Kong with a close 3-2 defeat.

China took a 2-0 lead at the break with goals coming off Qu Bo in the 17th minute and Du Zhenyu in the 22nd minute.

And while Myanmar tried hard to get back into the game after the break, there was no stopping China from piling on the goals off Yang Lin (58th minute), Jian Liu (63rd), Li Jinyu (76th), Li Weifeng (79th) and another from Qu Bo nine minutes to the end.

The return tie will be played in a week’s time.