PHNOM PENH, May 6 — National Under-22 (U-22) football coach E. Elavarasan has refused to blame the heat for Malaysia’s 0-2 defeat to Thailand in their second Group B match at the 2023 South East Asian (SEA) Games at Prince Stadium here today.

Instead, he advised the team to accept the loss and not to make playing in the heat — which exceeded 39 degrees Celsius — an excuse.

"Here the weather is really different and players need to adapt but we do not want to blame anything. Yes, we lost 0-2 and they had better chances and scored goals.

"We kept hoping for one special thing to happen but it didn’t pan out, so we need to accept this loss,” he said, adding that he was optimistic about their chances to qualify for the semi-finals in light of this loss.

He also expressed confidence that his team would rise up with a positive result against three-time champions Vietnam on Monday, stressing that Malaysia was not a weak team.

"This is a cycle where players will go through matches like this. We started off well in today’s match but lost. What’s important is the players’ mentality of wanting to win, I’m sure we can do better,” Elavarasan said.

Meanwhile, team captain Muhammad Azam Azmi Murad said that the team did not have any other option but to win their last two group matches against Vietnam and Singapore.

The Terengganu FC player urged his teammates to be more disciplined during the game.

"For me, the loss is a lesson and will spur the team to rise again.tonight, we may have been tired or lost focus for a moment. Focus is important in the game, if we don’t focus, we’ll be punished for it, so we need to improve on that,” he added.

Two Thai substitutes, Anan Yodsangwal and Yotsakon Burapha both came on in the second half to score a goal apiece, sending the entire Malaysian team into disarray in the process.

After two matches, Vietnam and Thailand are currently first and second, with six points each, while Malaysia is third with three points, with Singapore and Laos at the bottom of the group. — Bernama