Young Azkals stun Malaysia
NST
Stephan Schroeck (C) of the Philippines in action against Mohamed Syamer Kutty Abba (R) of Malaysia during the SEA Games 2019 men's first round soccer match between the Philippines and Malaysia in Manila, Philippines, 29 November 2019. EPA
By NST - November 29, 2019 @ 10:04pm
MANILA: The Philippines embarrassed Malaysia by overcoming the former Sea Games champions 1-0 in today’s Group A match at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
The defeat brought back bitter memories of the 1991 edition, also at the same venue, when Malaysia also lost 1-0 to the Philippines.
Goalkeeper Haziq Nadzli, whose blunder denied Malaysia the gold in the 2017 KL Sea Games, bundled in Philippines captain Stephen Schrock’s corner-kick for their first win in the competition.
For Malaysia, the defeat is a huge blow as they have only a point to show after two matches in Manila.
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The Filipinos were aggressive with Schrock pulling strings in the middle of the park, forcing Malaysia to defend in the opening minutes on the synthetic pitch.
Ong Kim Swee’s side were struggling to adapt with the pitch but did enough to deny the Philippines from scoring.
In the 20th minute, the Philippines had their first short on target but the grounder did not trouble Malaysian goalkeeper Haziq Nadzli.
Two minutes later, Malaysia earned a free kick just outside the Philippines’ penalty box.
However, captain Adam Nor Azlin failed to make his free-kick count when his rising shot was easily saved by Philippines keeper Anthony Pinthus.
The Philippines continued to press, using their wingers to breakdown the Malaysian defence but they lacked the final touches inside the visitors’ box.
In the 31st minute, Dominic Tan’s long ball to striker Hadi Fayyadh Razak caught the Philippines defence off guard, but the latter shot wide from an acute angle.
In the first minute of stoppage time, Chima Uzoka rose above the rest to meet a cross, but luckily for Malaysia he headed over the crossbar.
Overall, Malaysia were not impressive in the first half and were lucky not to concede goals.
In the second half, the Philippines were again more enterprising with their clean passing while Malaysia depended on quick counter attacks to trouble their rivals.
Philippines had more ball possession in the first 15 minutes of the second half but were letdown by poor decision making in Malaysia’s half.
Midfielder Danial Amier Norhisham had his grounder from outside the box, easily blocked by Philippines goalkeeper Pinthus.
Realising that his team needed more depth in attack, Kim Swee introduced Luqman Hakim Shamsudin and Umar Hakeem Suhar Rezwan in the 68th minutes.
But four minutes later, Schrock out-swinging corner-kick was bundled in by keeper Haziq to hand Philippines the lead.
Malaysian pressed hard in the remaining minutes but failed to find the equaliser.
Kim Swee’s side face Timor Leste on Tuesday.
