Malaysia bows out of World Cup qualifiers

Matt Siow 7/29/2011 1

Malaysia players played their heart out in the return leg of second round World Cup 2014 qualifiers while Singapore continued acting skills to earn sympathy and free kicks from referees.

Malaysia drew 1-1 with Singapore in the match at National Stadium, Bukit Jalil on Thursday night. However, this is not enough to stop Singapore Lions from qualifying to third round.

We can still stand tall with our local boys compared to Singapore who has to use mixed imported players to fill first XI (5 out of 11 players).

And Malaysians are upset with no sportsmanship shown by Singa-pura players who keep on acting (goalkeeper headache, injury and etc.) But Malaysian fans need to control their actions when Singapore goalkeeper Mohd Izwan complained of a laser being beamed at his face. An announcement was made through the PA system that the game would be called off if the fans continued with such acts.

As we can see, Safee Sali is man of the match (prolific striker, successor to Super Mokh) and best goalkeeper goes to Khairul Fahmi Che Mat, while the rest is quite balance in their strengths and weaknesses. For Singa-pura, only the 5 naturalised players who plays well, the original Singaporeans play like "kampung football".

Among very positive comments from Harimau Malaya fans (via Facebook):
> If we are not up to the grades...just admit it...and try to improve for the next match...not need to make any issues...out of our shortcomings... cheers!!!
> jgn salahkan sapa2 dalam team...baik player mahupun coach..wht we need to do terus sokong dorang..
> Ha ha ha ha ha...played their heart out, gave everything, still lost and still had integrity to say sorry? Safee and all malaysian football player last night...
> Singapurapura.. Mmg hebat b'lakon.. Lainkali jgn main bola ats padang.. Main bola ats pentas teater.. Hahaha..
> Im proud of our Tigers !! 100% MALAYSIAN !!! NO IMPORTS !!!
> cuz singaporean player so pro at acting can win grammy award ouhhhh
> Win or lose, does't matter, it's not a malaysian team, it's harimau malaya.
> well done Malaysia, so singapore is the true rojak afterall , GIGGLE*
> at least malaysia consist of really local boys unlike singapore wit dunno where cum mat salleh...

However, there are some Malaysians who are not proud with Harimau Malaya after all, maybe they should have change their nationalities. We need positive comments that can motivate our Harimau Malaya to roar in greater level of playing field.

While the team spirit is lauded, the skills of these bunch of players are questionable. They can't pass the ball properly, they can't control the ball, they can't stop the ball properly and they can't shoot! To top it off, the pitch is horrible. Is that even a playable field? Apart from Salee, I doubt there will be much progress in this team. We can basked in the glory of winning an ASEAN Cup, but in reality our standard is way way below par. Where are the Kang Hung Meng, Lim Teong Kim? Don't tell me there isn't one good enough to make the grade or have these people gave up the sport because of bias selection? Source: Syabas Malaysia! (Malay Mail)

Other news: Victory in defeat (Malay Mail)

Malaysia: Khairul Fahmi Che Mat, Mahalli Jasuli, Mohd Asraruddin Putra, Mohd Aidil Zafuan Abdul Razak (Mohd Muslim Ahmad), Mohd Fadhli Shas, Amar Rohidan, Ismail Faruqi (K. Gurusamy), S. Kunalan, Mohd Amirulhadi Zainal, Mohd Safee Sali, Abdul Hadi Yahaya (Ahmad Fakri Saarani).

Singapore: Mohd Izwan Mahbud, Daniel Bennett, Mohd Safuwan Baharudin, Shaiful Esah (Mohd Isa Abdul Halim), Harris Harun, Shi Jiayi, Qiu Li, Mustafic Fahrudin, Aleksander Duric, Shahril Ishak (Fazrul Nawaz), Juma'at Jantan.