Vietnam won the ASEAN Football Federation Under-20 Championship with a solitary goal in the first half. Apparently the rain-sodden field at the Thanh Long Sports Complex in Ho Chi Minh City did not allow for free-flowing football but the host, naturally they must've been supported well there, made full use of the situation anyway.
Malaysia's main fault, if we can point it out in this tournament, has been their slowness to get into the game as they have been guilty in this match as well as in their previous matches to concede early on in the game. In this particular case, Vietnam scored in the 8th minute after a poor clearance header from Muhamad Irfan Ghani. Their 'Bollywood Heroics' which helped them before eluded them this time around.
According to reports from the AFF website, the goal was a "paltry reward for their domination of the match where they enjoyed abundant possession that their forwards however could not leverage for maximum advantage" and that "In the first half, the Malaysian attack was virtually non-existent, the team unable to string more than two passes together".
Well, we don't know about the host, but (and we are going to defend our boys here), we are sure the conditions was poor for our boys to play. Now, unless we start to train the Malaysian juniors to play in the paddy fields, losing one goal in the final, (although it must've been heartbreaking for them poor kids), considering the conditions, should not break their spirit too much. They should really be proud of themselves and keep their heads high.
If the Goddamn KLIA wasn't too far from KL (or expensive to reach), we'd be scooting our asses to the airport to welcome the kids back. (We miss you Subang!)
BorakBola was taught to call a spade a spade so well done to the Under-20s get this far in the first place. And good job so far Mr K Rajagobal. Keep it up, maintain good, quality training (and for God sakes you don't need to fly the kids overseas to train!) and improve their tactical knowledge and work on the defence and concentration a bit, and the future doesn't look to dim after all.
Apparently, Malaysia tried harder in the second half to get equaliser, but they were unlucky.
In the third and fourth placing, Thailand finised third after defeating previous champion Myanmar 2-0.
However, we want to confirm something. In Utusan Malaysia, the report quoted Datuk Redzuan Sheik Ahmad as saying that the 'national squad displayed an energetic performance and created many dangerous chances' ("Timbalan Presiden Persatuan Bola Sepak Malaysia (FAM), Datuk Redzuan Sheikh Ahmad ketika bercakap kepada Utusan Malaysia berkata, skuad negara mempamerkan persembahan bertenaga menerusi banyak percubaan berbahaya ke gawang lawan"). So how come the news from AFF is so negative towards the Malaysian squad? So which one is which? Only who actually saw the match will know. Whatever it is, like we said earlier, we are sure the boys played their hearts out (we really hope so) and while they should be proud of their performance, they must keep their feet on the ground and see this as a stepping stone for future success.
Tahniah! Ayuh, cuba lagi Malaysia!
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