DBasia.news – BEKASI: Failure to steal the early opportunity results to the elimination of the national team on the second round of the 2018 Asian Games.
The result was acknowledged by the country’s B-23 manager, Datuk Ong Kim Swee after his men lost 0-1 to Japan through a penalty in the final minutes of the match.
“Before the match I was reminded that the opponents were a strong team, they were obviously different from losing to Vietnam over the day.
“But we were able to survive until the end of the game. We did not take the opportunity, and was punished by the end result” he said.
He added that their opponents were indeed 21 years old but more dominant and Malaysia managed to make it difficult for the Samurai Blue on most part of the match.
Malaysia, who lost in the same group of South Korean defeats at the group stage, was clearly unfortunate when two Safawi Rasid attempts at the last 10 minutes only hit the bar and the goalpost.
Even denied the opponents despite getting some other opportunities including the captain’s attempt at Baddrol Bakhtiar at the start of the match.
Finally, the opponent earned a penalty after national defender, Dominic Tan tripped Ayase Ueda in the 88th minute and the player completed it by defeating Haziq Nadzli in the match at Chandrabhaga Patriot Stadium.