TRICKY FOR CAMBODIA; MALAYSIA THUMP BRUNEI

Following their 3-2 defeat to Thailand in their opening group A match yesterday, Cambodia needed the three points to put their campaign on track.

But despite of the numerous chances they had Cambodia, buoyed again by close to 20,000 at the stands, just could not find the last touch for them to go ahead.

“In spite of the score line, I have to praise my players because they showed good spirit even though they had to play two matches in two days,” said Cambodian head coach Prak Sovannara.

“It was unfortunate that we had to play the games back to back but against such weather conditions, there is little to complaint from our side.

“Now we will just have to win our remaining matches to put us in the last four of the meet.”

Cambodia began the match brightly with Keo Sokngon, who hails from Kratie province near the Laos border, creating three clear chances in the first quarter.

In the seventh minute, Sokngon failed in a one-two-one situation while five minutes later, his curling free kick narrowly missed the crossbar.

His attempt in the 15th minute was replied by his opposite number from Indonesia as Ghozali delivered a stiff grounder that just failed to find the target.

With the score tied at the break, Indonesia came out the stronger in the second half when they created a handful of attempts but was denied by Sok Sovan who organised his defence well.

As the match wore on, both teams pulled no punches in search of the goal but in the end, they had to be contend with just the one point for either team.

“We should have been stronger against a side which had played only yesterday,” said Indonesian head coach Urias.

“We had a lot of opportunities to win the game even though we were against a side which was skilful as well as having better tactical awareness.”

IN THE MEANTIME, Malaysia started their campaign in the group on a thumping note when they beat Brunei 7-0 in the second math of the evening.

The win has allowed Malaysia to be at second at the table even though they only managed to score a single goal in the first half off Mohd Hakim Zainal heading home a cross from D. Saarvindran in the 23rd minute.

“I am happy with the results but the performance is still not up to what I expect as the players must learn to do the right things at the right moment,” said Malaysia head coach Aminuddin Hussin afterwards.

“It is just our first game, so I’m not even thinking about Indonesia at the moment although one thing for sure, it will not be an easy match.”

The floodgates opened in the second half when Malaysia scored through Saarvindran (52nd minute), Saiful Riduwan (59th), Mohd Aminuddin Mohd Samki (72nd and 90th), Mohamad Fandi Othman (82nd) and Idris Zohran (88th).

“The problem is that the players lack fitness and stamina to be competitive at this level which is why we concede the goals only in the second half,” added Brunei head coach Kwon Soon Oh.

“But this does not mean that we should not be giving our best where in spite of the several shortcomings, we will be giving 100% in all of our matches.”

GROUP A STANDING

1. INDONESIA 4pts (+3); 2. MALAYSIA 3pts (+7); 3. THAILAND 3pts (+1); 4. CAMBODIA 1pt (-1); 5. BRUNEI 0pt (-10).

PIC: INDONESIA (in red) against CAMBODIA (in blue)