National defender Aidil Zaquan Abdul Radzak has been slapped a four-match ban plus fined USD5,000 for his moment of madness in Malaysia’s AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Hong Kong earlier this month.
 
The incident happened at Melaka’s Hang Jebat Stadium on Sept 15 which ended in a 1-1 draw. The stalemate left Malaysia entrenched at the bottom of Group B with only one point after two matches. Malaysia lost their opening match against Lebanon 2-1 at the Larkin Stadium in Johor Bahru in June.
 
The incident at Hang Jebat happened deep into injury time when Australian referee Christopher Beath awarded Hong Kong a penalty which was hotly disputed by Aidil.
 
Aidil is alleged to have passed abusive remarks and pushed away Beath’s hand for which was duly given a yellow card – which was his second on the night and sent off – just after another Malaysian player Rizal Ghazali was also sacked a minute earlier for entering the field without permission after getting treatment on the sidelines.
 
Hong Kong failed to score from the penalty spot which enabled Harimau Malaya their first point in the competition and without a win under new national coach Nelo Vingada without a win in four matches.  
 
With the suspension Aidil, who plays for Malaysian Super League champions Johor Darul Takzim (JDT) in the M-League, will miss Malaysia’s matches against North Korea (Oct 5), Hong Kong (Oct 10) and Lebanon (March 2 2018) – all away.
 
The punishment was meted out by the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee and posted on the AFC website. – BY RIZAL ABDULLAH
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