Malaysia carved out an impressive 2-0 win over the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in pre-Asian Games friendly at the Shah Alam Stadium on Friday but it was overshadowed by a free-for-all at the end of the match.
The defeat was hard to swallow for the Arab nation and the visitors took an aggressive approach which resulted in some unwarranted tackles.
Referee Suhaizi Shukri is partly to be blamed for the fracas when failed to red card a UAE player for pushing him. Not even a yellow card was flashed at the player and this somewhat gave UAE players the “confidence” to play aggressive football, including off the ball incidents.
It is a disgrace to Asia football, with the Asian Games in Indonesia just around the corner, that UAE team officials freely joined the punching and kicking. Even a Malaysian uniformed security personnel became a victim of a UAE official at the bench.
Putting the ugly incident aside, Malaysia coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee must have seen plenty of “positives” in the team for the Asian Games. He has not named his team to the Asiad yet but the former international more or less who will be on his list.
“It is nice to see that we did not concede a goal. There were many positives but at the same time we can further improve on the loopholes and plug the shortcomings,” said Kim Swee during an interview on television.
Safawi Rasid scored the opening goal for Malaysia after missing his first attempt – with a delightful left-footed shot into the UAE right corner of the net.
Akhyar Rashid added the second on 64 minutes after outwitting three markers before drilling home a low shot. Malaysia 2-0.RIZAL ABDULLAH
