KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia ended their World Cup/Asian Cup qualifying campaign on a high by edging Thailand 1-0 in their final Group G match in Dubai on Tuesday.
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Substitute Safawi Rasid’s second-half penalty settled the closely-fought affair against the War Elephants at the Al Maktoum Stadium.
With the win, Harimau Malaysia completed their Group G campaign with 12 points from eight matches to advance to the Asian Cup qualifiers, while Thailand took fourth on nine, followed by Indonesia (one point).
The United Arab Emirates topped the group with 18 points after edging Vietnam 3-2, also on Tuesday. Both the UAE and Vietnam advanced to the third and final round of the World Cup qualifiers.
National coach Tan Cheng Hoe hailed his side’s win and hopes they will learn from the campaign in Dubai.
He wants his boys to do better in the Asian Cup qualifiers.
“I’m very pleased with the performance. The players showed commitment and gave their 100 per cent against Thailand,” said Cheng Hoe after the match.
“The players fought hard, especially in the closing stages of the match. Everyone was fighting to stop Thailand from scoring.
“We had many more opportunities to extend our lead, but we did not take them.
“Overall, it’s a huge experience for the players in this qualifying campaign, although we did not advance to the next stage of the World Cup qualifiers.
“However, we are still in contention for the 2023 Asian Cup, and we will prepare accordingly for the qualifiers.”
Mohamadou Sumareh, La’Vere Corbin-Ong and Syamer Kutty Abba were not available as they were serving suspensions.
However, their replacements, Aiman Arif Hanapi, Syahmi Safari and Nazmi Faiz Mansor did well in the match.
Goalkeeper Khairulazhan Khalid, Nor Azam Azih and Akhyar Rashid were also given starts.
Both teams were on equal footing in the first half and could not break the deadlock before things changed in the second half.
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In the second half, Cheng Hoe introduced Safawi and Syafiq Ahmad, replacing Arif and Brendan Gan, and their presence added more bite to the Malaysian attack.
Seven minutes into the second half, Thailand conceded a penalty when Ernesto Phumipha fouled Safawi in the area.
Safawi stepped up and converted from the spot with a low shot, beating Thai keeper Chatchai Budprom.
Thailand huffed and puffed to get into the game, but the Malaysians shored up the defence and held on for the win.
World Cup qualifiers
Results
Group A — Philippines 1 Maldives 1, China 3 Syria 1;
Group B — Australia 1 Jordan 0, Taiwan 1 Kuwait 2;
Group C — Bahrain 4 Hong Kong 0, Iran 1 Iraq 0;
Group D — Palestine 3 Yemen 0, Saudi Arabia 3 Uzbekistan 0;
Group E — India 1 Afghanistan 1, Bangladesh 0 Oman 3;
Group F — Japan 5 Kyrgyzstan 1, Tajikistan 4 Myanmar 0;
Group G — Thailand 0 Malaysia 1, UAE 3 Vietnam 2.
* Syria, Australia, Iran, South Korea, China, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Iraq, Vietnam, UAE and Lebanon qualify for final round of AFC World Cup qualifiers.- NST