KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6 — Although Thailand is the defending champion, Malaysia have an advantage in the first leg semifinal clash of the 2022 Asean Football Federation Cup (AFF) at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium here, tomorrow night.
Based on the last five meetings, Malaysia recorded two consecutive wins in the second round of the 2022 World Cup/2023 Asian Cup qualifiers and three draws each in the semi-finals of the 2018 AFF Cup and the King of Thailand Cup last September.
Two wins in the second qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup/2023 Asian Cup were enough to allow Malaysia to advance to the Asian Cup qualifying round before confirming a place in the prestigious tournament, thus ending a 42-year wait to qualify on merit.
The good performance must be continued by the national team led by Kim Pan Gon ahead of the match at the National Stadium, not to mention that the venue has always been a bad omen for the Thailand squad as they have not ended their streak of bad luck here.
Based on this, the national team has an opportunity to defeat the squad coached by Alexandre Polking and bring a lot of positivity when they travel to Bangkok for the return match at the Thammasat Stadium, next Tuesday.
However, Thailand is the most successful team in the AFF Cup campaign since the inaugural event in 1996 as they emerged champions six times after appearing in nine finals.
Thailand also has a slight advantage in the record meeting against Malaysia in the semifinals, having won two of the three meetings respectively in the 2000 (2-0) and 2012 (3-1) editions while losing on away goals rule in the 2018 edition.
In this campaign, Polking’s men performed brilliantly after emerging as champions of Group A with an unbeaten record — winning three and drawing one to confirm a semi-final spot for the fifth edition in a row while Malaysia, the 2010 edition champions, were runner-up in Group B.
Thailand emerged as the highest-scoring team to date with 13 goals which saw prolific 34-year-old striker Teerasil Dangda top the scorers list with five goals in four games.
Group B champions Vietnam and Group A runners-up Indonesia have each recorded 12 goals while Malaysia has scored 10 goals so far.
In terms of defence, Thailand, who conceded two goals throughout the group stage, are the second team with the lowest number of goals conceded behind Vietnam, who have yet to concede a goal after four matches.
Pan Gon’s charges have conceded four goals in the group stage after losing 0-3 to Vietnam before recording a 4-1 victory over traditional rivals Singapore.
However, given their current performance, especially after defeating Singapore, Malaysia are in the best shape and will have no problem coming up with an excellent performance to tame the visitors.
In fact, the national team also has the ability to score goals through a range of attack-minded strikers like winger Mohamad Faisal Abdul Halim, naturalised striker Sergio Aguero and midfielder Stuart Wilkin.
It will be an uphill task for the Thai defence to guard their fortress.
Faisal and Wilkin are the top scorers for the national team after each scoring three goals while Aguero has scored two goals so far.
In addition to the commitment of the national players, the solid support of the fans, especially in the stadium, should spur Malaysia on to win. With as many as 59,000 tickets already sold, it will definitely create a great atmosphere, capable of terrifying Thailand. — Bernama
