AFF SUZUKI CUP: Unlucky Malaysia fall to Thailand in semi-finals
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| Malaysia’s Safiq Rahim fights for the ball with Thailand’s Teerasil Dangda in the AFF Suzuki Cup semi-final second leg in Bangkok yesterday. Pic by Fariz Iswadi Ismail |
A cruel sending-off and defensive errors saw Malaysia's gallant run in the AFF Suzuki Cup come to an end in Bangkok yesterday.
Reduced to 10-man, the Malaysian Tigers could not sustain their tight defence in the second half, and conceded two goals.
Malaysia, the defending champions, lost the semi-final return leg 2-0 and on a 3-1 aggregate.
Fadhli Shas was sent off for a confrontation with Datsakorn Thonglao after the Thai had elbowed him on his shoulder during an aerial challenge in the 43rd minute.
Thailand started their domination from then on, and scored through Teerasil Dangda and Theerathon Bunmathan to qualify for their first final since 2008.
National coach K. Rajagobal once again left Safee Sali on the bench and played striker Norshahrul Idlan Talaha alone up-front with midfielder Baddrol Baktiar pushed into a more offensive role.
Gary Steven Robbat, who played in the first leg, was benched while S. Kunanlan made his third start on the left flank with Azamuddin Mohd Akil in the right wing position.
Captain Safiq Rahim manned the midfield with Amar Rohidan playing in-front of the back line comprising Mahalli Jasuli, Bunyamin Umar, Aidil Zafuan Radzak, Fadhli, Amar Rohidan. Goalkeeper Farizal Marlias made his fourth straight start.
Thailand coach Winfried Schafer fielded the same line-up that held Malaysia to a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Bukit Jalil.
"I believe the decision by the referee today (yesterday) was a wrong one at that point.
"I believe the result would have been different if Fadhli was not sent off," said Rajagobal.
"We did well in the first half as we created chances but my plans were affected when Fadhli was sent off.
"Amar made a mistake which resulted in the first goal while our defenders should have done better to stop the second goal."
As early as the fourth minute, Malaysia almost paid the price for Aidil's mistake when he misjudged a pass from Bunyamin Umar.
Datsakorn picked the ball from Aidil's feet before weaving past the centre-back but goalkeeper Farizal Marlias was quick off his goal-line to deny the Thai.
Before that, Safiq, who received a pass from Norshahrul, had his long range effort saved by Thailand keeper Kawin Thamsatchanan.
Thailand were looking for an early goal, and it made Malaysia nervous as desperate tackles saw Fadhli and right-back Mahali Jasuli picking up yellow cards in the opening 15 minutes.
Teerasil had a golden opportunity in the 16th minute but the striker fumbled a low cross from Piyaphon Buntao.
The enterprising Thais continued to press forward and almost took the lead after 29 minutes when Teerasil, who latched on a through pass from Datsakorn, had only keeper Farizal in-front of him but he shot wide.
An aerial challenge between Fadhli and Datsakorn, three minutes before half-time, saw the latter elbowing the former before the Thai charged at the Malaysian.
The unsighted Korean referee Lee Min Hu, who saw only the second incident, stopped the match before booking both players with Fadhli given his marching orders for a second yellow card.
The sending-off meant Rajagobal needed to rethink his approach but he maintained a four-man backline by having defensive midfielder Amar play in the centre-back position.
The referee got it wrong for the second-time minutes before half time when he failed to take appropriate action against Phichitphong Choeichiu, who was on a yellow card, for his high challenge on Baddrol.
Malaysia did well to contain the Thais, who largely depended on four players - Datsakorn, Teerasil, Theerathon and Anucha Kitpongsri - to create opportunities in the first half.
With a man down, Rajagobal replaced Kunanlan with Khyril Muhymeen Zambri as a tactical change to add more variety into the game.
Thailand's persistence finally paid off with a goal in the 60th minute. A defensive mix-up and a mistake by Amar, who miss-judged a clearance by missing the ball completely, in front of Teerasil was a huge mistake as the striker picked up the ball and raced into the box before picking a spot to score past keeper Farizal.
The goal meant Malaysia needed to attack in numbers and the move left holes in their back-line.
Theerathon extended the homesters' lead four minutes later when keeper Farizal parried an earlier attempt directly to him.
Thailand continued to dominate as Rajagobal desperately tried to revive his team by bringing on Safee Sali and giving defender Faizal Muhd his first start in the tournament but the game plan did not work.
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