After defeating Laos, Malaysia (yellow jersey) will next face Vietnam in at My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi on November 16 (Photo: foxsports)Hanoi (VNA) – Both Malaysia and Myanmar, which are directly competingwith Vietnam for the top place of Group A at the AFF Suzuki Cup 2018, won intheir second matches on November 12.
In their first homematch, the Malaysian players delighted the 12,000-strong crowd with a 3-1win, even though the team was made to sweat by the compact and resolute Laosside led by Singaporean coach V Sundramoorthy.
Laos drew first blood atthe 6th minute when Phithack Kongmathilath thumped in a free-kick past haplessMalaysian goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi Che Mat.
The goal woke Malaysiaup from as Harimau Malaya piled on the pressure with some slick passes andenterprising play.
The pressure paid offafter Mohamad Zaquan Adha Abd Radzak finished off a brilliant passage of playbetween Muhammad Safawi Rasid and Muhammad Syahmi Safari at the 14thminute.
In the second half,Malaysia upped the ante but was guilty of missing several good chances. Laogoalkeeper Saymanolinh Praseuth was also impressive as he foiled severalattempts.
At the 85th minute,Norshahrul Idlan Talaha proved to be the hero for Malaysia after he bundled inthe ball in for Malaysia’s second goal.
At the 90th minute, theveteran forward capped his night by scoring a second to gift Malaysia to a 3-1win.
Malaysia will next faceVietnam in at My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi on November 16 while Laos willplay Myanmar in Vientiane.
Also on the same day, Myanmar came from behind to defeat Cambodia4-1 to open its AFF Suzuki Cup 2018 campaign. Cambodia will have a week to recover ahead of their home matchagainst Laos.
With two wins, Malaysia now temporarily tops Group A, gaining sixpoints. Meanwhile, Myanmar rose to the second place with three points, equal toVietnam’s but it has more goals.-VNA
VNA
