KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 – Malaysia never looked comfortable against the pacy forwards of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the outcome, a 4-0 defeat in a Group G match in the World Cup 2022/Asia Cup 2023 qualifier at the Zabeel Stadium in Dubai on yesterday.
Malaysia must wake up from the ”nightmare” of conceding four goals because we made UAE look good. Two goals in injury time, tell the whole story – that we lost focus against the Arab nation ranked 73. Malaysia is ranked 153.
All is not lost despite the defeat and instead the Harimau Malaya must look towards the next match – which is against Vietnam on June 11. A positive result against the Vietnames can put Malaysia back on track and renew their hopes of advancing to the next round, alive.
Chief coach Tan Cheng Hoe, disappointed with the result, was quick to admit that it was a “below par” performance from the majority of players and ”did not play well as a team.”
Speaking from Dubai on Friday, Cheng Hoe added that another disappointing factor was that players also lost focus in the match – on a night when much was expected from the team after playing two friendly matches – against Kuwait and Bahrain. Malaysia lost both the matches by 4-1 and 2-0 margins respectively.
”Compared to the two friendly matches, the players tried to raise their game against UAE but our opponents were a better side,” said Cheng Hoe.
”The current UAE team is a far better side than the one we played in 2019.”
UAE – known as The Whites – scored two quick goals in injury time to make the score look flattering.
Dangerman Ali Mabkhout and naturalised Brazilian Fabio de Lima, scored a brace each for UAE, to take the team to the second spot in the group with nine points from five matches.
Thailand and Malaysia, also have nine points each from six matches, are in third and fourth positions respectively, separated by goal difference. Thailand’s tally is eight goals for and five against while Malaysia’s figures are eight for and 10 against.
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