SHAH ALAM (17 March 2013) – Malaysia will have a lot of work to do ahead of their second game of the 2015 Asian Cup qualifiers next week after they were overwhelmed 4-1 by Saudi Arabia in their final tune-up match at the Shah Alam Stadium tonight.
With star forward Safee Sali left out by chief coach K. Rajagobal due to injuries, the striking duty was left to Norshahrul Idlan Talaha, whose distinctively cropped hair was the only new feature in his otherwise bland game.
Saudi Arabia, who will be playing Indonesia in their next Asian Cup qualifiers on 23 March in Jakarta, showed their physical prowess early in the seventh minute when they punished some hesitant Malaysian defending to take the lead through Yousef Al-Salem in the seventh minute.
In the 30th minute, Yahya Alsheri broke through the porous Malaysian defence again to score the second goal for the Saudis.
Malaysia were brighter after the restart as they improved on their overall ball possession. And after creating several good chances, they finally broke the stubborn Saudi defence in the 71st minute when Abdul Manaf Mamat played the ball back to Shafiq Rahim to score.
But the goal failed to reignite the Malaysians further as Naif Hazazi nailed the third goal for Saudi Arabia in the 89th minute and then Hamdan Alhamdan right at the death.
Malaysia will play Yemen on 22 March 2013 at the same venue.
In the meantime, the Philippines beat Pachanga Diliman 2-1 in a friendly that was played in Mania. The Philippines will be playing in Group E of the AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers against Cambodia, Brunei and Turkmenistan.
The qualifiers begin on 22 March 2013.
