MALACCA (6 June 2016) – Playing with a man short for the last five minutes did not deter Thailand from lifting the Nations Cup 2016 crown when they beat Malaysia in the final at the Hang Jebat Stadium in Malacca on Sunday night.
The Thais had skipper Chenrop Samphaodi sent off for a second bookable offence in the 85th minute.
It was dominant Thailand that left Malaysia exposed at the back but thanks to some poor finishing by the Thais the score remained respectable on a night when Malaysia’s Mohd Jafri Firdaus Chew had to be restrained by his teammates from going at the match referee soon after the final whistle.
The match was only four minutes old when the Thais went 1-0 up through Worawut Namvech who tucked the rebound home from a freekick by Tanasit Siripala which rebounded off the right post.
The Malaysians under German coach Frank Bernhardt were very much in the picture with the equaliser which came in the 35th minute.
A through ball from Safawi Rasid saw Nur Syamie out-sprint his last man marker before drilling home a neatly struck grounder past the on-srushing Thai goalkeeper Apirak Worawong .
But poor finishing denied Malaysia from adding to their tally. Jafri Firdaus Chew and company muffed a couple of goal-scoring chances that came their way but paid the price for their poor finishing,
On the other hand Thailand looked dangerous each time they were on the ball although they too were victims of poor finishing upfront.
It was a matter of time before the homesters caved in and this came on 78 minutes when a Thai attack on the left caught the Malaysian backline in sixes and sevens and Samphaodi coolly finished off a teasing cross.
Samphaodi was later sent off for an early shower for faking injury in the last five minutes of play but Thailand held on a 2-1 win and become the the first holders of the trophy.
Earlier in an afternoon, Vietnam came back from 2-0 down to snatch a 2-2 draw against Singapore and finished off 5-4 winners in a penalty shootout to take third place.
Singapore led with goals by Adam Swandi (41st) and Hazim Faiz Hassan (50th).
However, Vietnam hit back through Huynh Tan Sinh (56th) and Ha Duc Chan (90th) to send the match into a penalty shootout with the Vietnamese winning the lottery.
RESULTS
FINAL
Thailand 2 Malaysia 1
Third / Fourth Place
Singapore 2 Vietnam 2
(Vietnam win 5-4 on penalties)
