This was a do-or-die match for both teams, especially for Malaysia. Looks like we didn’t do that much, especially where defending is concerned, and David Htan swept in with a last minute goal to demolish our semi-final dreams.
The game started out good, Malaysia launched attack after attack against the hosts. Baddrol Bakhtiar fed the ball to Hazwan Bakri at the 6th minute, whose excellent shot unfortunately hit the post. Fakri Saraani’s powerful shot at the 19th minute went straight to the keeper.
After the 20th minute, we slowed down, and Myanmar started pelting us with dangerous attempts via Ko Tun, Saw Min Tun and of course, Myanmar’s fatal weapon, Aung Thu. Myanmar almost secured an early goal after Hazwan fouled Aung Thu, and his side was awarded a penalty. That turned out to be the highlight of the first half, as Khairul Fahmi dove in the right direction to stop Aung Thu and deny Myanmar of a goal.
Both teams were equally aggressive in the second half, but that gradually died down. Malaysia seemed complacent with the scoreline when we needed more shots on target. The game picked up again when Datuk Ong Kim Swee realised that he was running out of time and decided to bring on Darren Lok and Safee Sali. Minutes in, Darren, Safee and Amri started forming a triangle and looked like they had something planned, but nothing much happened besides a few shots going wide.
A counter attack by Myanmar saw the ball with David Htan, who sprinted past two Malaysian defenders and capitalised on our lax defence–he fired home the last minute winner at 89th minute. As much as we’re despaired, we saw that coming, and it was already too late to retaliate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IWeeknZCqc
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