PETALING JAYA, June 19 — Football fans were recently left reeling from yet another humiliating defeat involving the national team.

Papua New Guinea beat Malaysia 2-0 in a friendly match on Friday, a scoreline many still find difficult to digest.

Malaysia had defeated the minnows twice in the past, thrashing them 10-1 in 1976 and securing a comfortable 5-1 win in 1984.

“Malaysian football’s free fall continues: this is right up there with the worst and most embarrassing,” tweeted Ben Godomon (@bengodomon).

Nizar M. Zaini commented: “Embarrassing. I hope fasting is not one of the excuses they’ll give.”

Another fan, Idin Dabet, was convinced the national team, coached by Datuk Ong Kim Swee, took Papua New Guinea lightly due to the world ranking. Malaysia is stuck at its worst position ever, 173, while the Papua team are placed 193 in Fifa rankings.

“The team saw Timor Leste as an easy team to beat and thought the same of Papua New Guinea. Now, we are the ones who are burnt. This should be a lesson not to take any match lightly,” he said.

Twitter user, Nizar Irman Nordin (@ninordin), said regardless of Papua New Guinea’s ranking or reputation, Malaysia should not have lost the game and should have kept “the winning habits going”.

A screenshot of a comment on Facebook.

A fan, identified as Classic man, wrote on Team Malaysia’s Facebook page: “This team thinks that just because they’ve won twice against Timor Leste that they are as good as Japan. But it’s unfortunate that while in comparison (with) the game with PNG, the Malaysian team and coach just look like a line-up of fishermen and carpenters.”

Mohd Zulkefli added on the same page: “It’s better for Malaysia to give up football if the only thing we care about is our ranking and not how well we play. We’ve seen the results of that mentality.”

One comment said it was time to bring in a foreign coach.

Saifuad Parham said on the team's Facebook posting: “Harimau Malaysia needs to get used to the playing style of international teams, not just the local clubs. The coach plays a crucial role and we need an imported coach for the national squad. 

“Rankings do not mean anything if we don’t continue to improve on our skills ... probably the only reason PNG is lower than us is because they don’t play as often as we do.”

Papua supporters, however, are not complaining.

Rocky Pato Bota said on Facebook: “Drew with All Whites (New Zealand) and now beating Malaysia. If Malaysia was in the World Cup challenge, then PNG certainly has something to show for.”

Another Facebook user, Melkisedek John, wrote: “Super coach and great players is a winning combination. Good insight by PNG football to bring a high calibre coach who is producing terrific results with our local boys. Looks like PNG football has come of age. Watch out, here come the Kapuls.”

Following the criticism against the team, Ong had reportedly said it was unfair to judge the team solely on the 2-0 result.

He was quoted by Malaysian Sports yesterday as saying: “It’s easy to criticise without actually watching the match and just basing it on the end result.

“Our opponents are a very good side and their rankings are not a fair reflection of their ability.”