MALAYSIA HOLD INDIA IN HYDERABAD FRIENDLY

The hosts, fresh from their recent tour of Portugal, went ahead first in the 65th minute through Baichung Bhutia before Indra Putra Mahayuddin found the equalizer for Malaysia ten minutes later through a penalty.

National coach B. Sathianathan said that his team performed to expectations in their build-up play but were letdown by the final pass.

“The boys appeared tired due to the hectic schedule but I’m not offering any excuse,” said Sathianathan.

“The tempo was fast and Baichung who took part in the recent All-Stars exhibition match in Munich was a constant thorn to our side. He opened the scoring with a header against the run of play.

“The draw was not a fair reflection of the match. We dominated the game and they were restricted to making two shots at goal.

“Our strikers had a few clear cut chances which were not converted while Hairuddin (Omar) was fouled in the box in the first half but there was no penalty.”

The Malaysian team will return to Kuala Lumpur on July 24 before preparing to face English side Chelsea on 27 July 2008.