TOUGH FOR VIETNAM; MALAYSIA CHANGE AGENDA

This follows the ASEAN champions 1-0 loss to Syria at the My Dinh Stadium on Saturday and where they will be making the return tie later today in Syria.

In spite of having the support of more than 30,000 loyal fans at home, Vietnam just could not prise open the Syrian defence and where in the end, their more physical opponents scored the winner late in injury time off Raja Rafe’s close-range header.

“My players played with a lot of courage and spirit,” said Calisto.

“I’m a bit disappointed because Cong Vinh (Vietnam’s top striker) did not play well. The next match in Syria will be much harder for Vietnam.”

In the meantime, Malaysian head coach K. Rajagobal seems to have changed the agenda for the team where instead the concentration will be on the SEA Games in Laos next month.

He said that while he wants the Malaysian lads to be positive and raise their game above the 3-1 loss they suffered against Uzbekistan on the weekend, he nevertheless felt that the true agenda will be for the SEA Games.

“The U23 lads played well in the first half against Uzbekistan in Tashkent when they held them scoreless,” added Rajagobal.

“The matches against Uzbekistan are very competitive and it is a good venue for the U23 lads to get more experience. We played only with two senior players – Norhafiz Zamani Misbah and Mohd Amri Yahyah – so the team deserved to be lauded for their performance.

“For the return tie, we will have the same approach as we did in Tashkent. If we can get the spark and get a positive result, then we can use it for the next match against UAE (in early January).”

Malaysia are at the bottom of Group C following losses to UAE (5-0) in the first match of the qualifiers and then 3-1 to Uzbekistan a few days ago.