Winfried Schafer admits his Thailand side need to work on their slow start to Sunday's 1-1 draw with Malaysia in the first leg of their AFF Suzuki Cup semi-final tie.
By ESPNSTAR.com staff
Following a dominant display in the previous round, where they finished top of Group A with three wins out of three, Thailand were expected to come out for Sunday's game at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium firing on all cylinders.
Harimau Malaya, on the other hand, needed a win in their final Group B game against Indonesia to seal their progress to the last four, but it was them who got off to the more dominant start and after a goalless first half, they duly took the lead in the 48th minute when Norshahrul Idlan Talaha nodded home a Mahalli Jasuli cross.
Nonetheless, the goal sparked the War Elephants to life and they ultimately forced a draw 11 minutes from time when Teerasil Dangda sent a fantastic header over Farizal Marlias' despairing dive and into the top corner.
Having previously only had words of praise for his side all tournament long, Schafer he was slightly frustrated by their performance on Sunday.
"The first half was not our match," he said. "We didn't play well.
"We lost too many balls in midfield and the long balls from Malaysia were difficult for us to handle. We made too many mistakes in the first half."
However, the German believes the 1-1 draw was a satisfactory result to take back to the Suphachalasai Stadium for Thursday's return leg.
"After we went down 1-0, we played better," Schafer added. "We started pressing them well and the 1-1 draw is fantastic.
"This is a good result for us - scoring one goal here in Kuala Lumpur is fantastic."
Schafer will be absent from the touchline in Thursday's match as he will be serving a one-game suspension, after being sent off in the 81st minute of Sunday's clash for angrily remonstrating with the referee.
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