JOHOR BARU (3 June 2016) – Malaysia kept their hopes of a place in the 2019 Asian Cup alive when they beat Timor Leste 3-0 at the Larkin Stadium last night as ASEAN neighbours Laos fall to India and Cambodia held to a 2-2 draw by Chinese Taipei.
The Malaysian team, who have not shown any sense of consistency since losing the final of the AFF Suzuki Cup in 2014, finally showed semblance against Timor Leste in a first half blitz.
Their last two international friendlies against Macau and Myanmar had ended in a scoreless drought.
But at Larkin last night, they finally managed to find the back of the net when Hazwan Bakri nailed two quick goals in the 17 and 21 minute.
Veteran striker Mohd Amri Yahya then added five minutes to the end.
IN THE MEANTIME, ASEAN neighbour Laos were denied a win at home when they fell to a Jeje Lalpekhlua’s goal just before the hour mark.
Lalpekhlua headed home Udanta Singh’s cross after 55 minutes at the National Stadium in Vientiane.
“We have no excuses for the loss, we had everything in shape in first half, our defence did a great job. However, after we were a goal down, we had to change tactics by putting on more attackers,” said Laos coach Valakone Phomphakdy.
“We had a lot of chances from outside the box, but could not manage to score.”
ON THE OTHER HAND, Cambodia and Chinese Taipei battled to a 2-2 draw at the National Stadium.
Huang Wei-Min fired Chinese Taipei in front early in the first half only for Keo Sokpheng to pull Cambodia level inside the first 10 minutes.
The hosts retook the lead at the midway stage of the first half through Chen Po-Liang but Chinese Taipei were again pegged back after Chhin Chhoeun’s goal on 30 minutes, before Cambodia’s Chan Vathanaka saw his penalty saved early in the second half.
Cambodia captain Bin Chanthacheary and Chinese Taipei’s Chen Hao-Wei were then both dismissed for separate incidents.
“We got a very good result today with Chinese Taipei playing at home. It was not our best game because our players haven’t recovered (from the Timor-Leste game on Sunday) and it was also so humid,” said Cambodia coach Lee Tae-hoon.
“We got two important goals in the first half. I have to prepare them to play more aggressively in the home game. The away goals are very, very important and I will focus on our two away goals in the home game.”
