#Defending champions Kores set the pace in the group with a 6-0 win over Bahrain
Malaysia cleared their first hurdle in Group E in the Asian Games football competition with a 3-1 win over Kyrgyzstan at the Jalak Harupat Stadium in Bandung on Wednesday.
It is a morale-boosting win for Malaysia but head coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee was quick to point out that a lot needs to be done for the next match which is against the South Koreans. The other team in the group is Bahrain.
The Koreans are the defending champions and are the early favorites for the gold medal in Indonesia. This they showed when they demolished Bahrain 6-0 after leading 5-0 at halftime at the same venue. The Koreans did not play their prodigal son Son Heung-min who plays for Tottenham Hotspurs in the English Premier League.
“It was a good win but we need to tighten up things in several areas,” said Kim Swee after the match.
“Good that the forwards scored the goals but our opponents did not make it any easy for us. Getting full points in our opening match is sure a confidence booster but we have to improve in certain departments.”
Malaysia opened the scoring in the 37th minute via a penalty converted by Safawi Rasid after Akhyar Rashid was felled inside the box.
Ten minutes into the second half Kyrgyzstan drew level through a header by midfielder Ernist Batyrkanov.
However, Malaysia was back in front on 61 minutes when Akhyar finished off a Safawi cross. Safawi also had a hand in Malaysia’s third goal when his cross was headed home by Syafiq Ahmad. RIZAL ABDULLAH
