MANILA, Nov 29 — Malaysia are still looking for their first win in the men’s football event at the 30th SEA Games when they lost 0-1 to Philippines at Rizal Memorial Stadium, tonight.
The result of the Group A match saw a repeat of the 1991 SEA Games historic upset when Malaysia lost to hosts, Philippines at the same venue.
Armed with stronger home crowd support, The Junior Azkais started aggressively by launching with several quick attacks which put the national squad on their defence.
The national Under-22 team later received an opportunity to open the score but the free kick by captain Nur Adam Azlin was saved by Filipino goalkeeper Anthony Pinthus in the 23rd minute.
The hosts eventually found the net when a corner kick taken by Schrock was not neatly push away by goalkeeper Muhammad Haziq Nadzil giving Amani Manuel Aguildo the chance to slam in the only goal of the match in the 72nd minute.
Malaysia had earlier drawn 1-1 with Myanmar in the opening game on Monday while Philippines also tied 1-1 with Cambodia and the hosts lost 1-2 to Myanmar two days ago.
In another Group A match tonight, Myanmar defeated Timor Leste 3-1.
With today’s results, Malaysia are in the fourth place with one point after two matches while Myanmar are at the top with seven points after three matches followed by Cambodia and Philippines with four points each.
The Harimau Muda will be meeting Timor Leste on Monday before completing the group round against Cambodia on Wednesday.
The last time Malaysia took the gold in the event was in the 2011 edition in Indonesia while in the 2017 Games in KL, Malaysia had to be satisfied with a silver after losing to Thailand.
Over in the women’s football, the national squad was thrashed 0-5 by Philippines in its opening Group A match at Binan Football Stadium.
The squad under Jacob Joseph will be meeting Myanmar on Monday to complete their group matches, in which the top two teams will qualify for the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, men’s national U-22 coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee said the players have to raise their performance in the remaining two matches as he was confident the team could still make it for the next stage.
“The players must buck up now and show character to win the next two matches. Mathematically we still have chance to advance to the semi-finals,” he said. — Bernama
