Malaysia suffered their heaviest defeat since 1999 as they conceded six goals en route to being thrashed by Oman in Muscat.
Dollah included the likes of Wan Zack and Amri Yahya in the starting line-up, despite both players only recently returning from long-term injuries, and the decision certainly backfired as Malaysia struggled from the get go.
Oman dominated the midfield battle, with Johor DT II midfielder Akram Mahinan failing to cope with pace of the game on his debut; something that inevitably contributed to the score line.
The Middle-East side went into the break with a comfortable 2-0 lead. Abdul Karim broke the deadlock on the 15th minute, before Al Muqbali made it 2-0 just three minutes before the break. The gap between their first and second goal wasn’t indicative of the match tempo as Oman did dominate proceedings throughout the first half.
But you would have expected Dollah’s men to provide a response after the break, would you? Instead, Oman upped their tempo and Qasim Said made it 3-0 just two minutes after the restart.
On the 50th minute mark, Al Muqbali netted his second goal of the night to make it 4-0, with over 40 minutes left in the game. So it was relatively obvious at this point, that Malaysia would require damage limitation.
They held the Omanis, before Le Guen’s men eventually made it 5-0 on the 67th minute. If you thought that was bad enough, Oman applied salt to Malaysia’s wounds by netting their sixth goal through a spot kick just before the end, with Safiq Rahim getting sent off with a straight red card.
The victory was certainly a morale-boosting one for Oman, after their disappointing showing at the Asian Cup last January, though for Dollah Salleh and co, it’s time to get back to the drawing boards.
Photo Credits: FIFA
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