CHONBURI (21 August 2019) – Malaysia picked up their second win in Group A of the AFF Women’s Championship 2019 when they whipped Timor Leste 5-0 at the Institute of Physical Education.
Following a 3-0 loss in their first game in the group against the Philippines, the Malaysians recovered to beat Singapore 4-0 in their second tie.
“We have brightened our chances of making the semifinals after the win over Timor Leste today,” said Malaysia assistant head coach Kok Keng Lin. “Now we will have the decisive game against Thailand to look forward to.”
With Timor Leste struggling under the afternoon sun, the Malaysians took the chance to stamp their authority as they set the pace of the game.
After some near misses, a failed clearance in the 16th minute allowed Sihaya Ajad to blast the ball in from the edge of the Timor Leste box.
The Timorese then tightened up their defensive play to frustrate the Malaysian girls up until the right on the hour with Dadree Rofinus to slip the ball past custodian Agostinha Nogueira following a short pass from Norhanisa Yahya.
From then on, Timor Leste seemed to have lost the plot as they allowed the Malaysians to score three more goals – Dadree’s freekick in the 66th minute and then Norhanisa’s freekick in the 78th minute.
The final goal for Malaysia came four minutes to the end through Sihaya’s header following Agostinha poor clearance.
