AFF Suzuki Cup: Vietnam Put Malaysia's Wish To Advance To Semi-finals On Hold

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 17 (Bernama) -- Vietnam put Malaysia's wish to book an early ticket to the semi-finals of the AFF Suzuki Cup 2018 Football Championship on hold with a 2-0 win at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi, Vietnam Friday night. The Golden Dragon’s second successive win enabled them to share six points with Myanmar after two matches so far, but Myanmar topped the group A with two-goal advantage. For the record, Malaysia won 1-0 against Cambodia and 3-1 over Laos in their two earlier matches. Playing in front of more than 40,000 Vietnamese supporters clearly did not affect  the Harimau Malaya squad as they launched continuous attacks on Vietnam's fortress to find the opening goal, but to no avail. It was the home side which scored the first goal in the 11th minute through Nguyen Cong Phuong, to the cheers of their supporters. Shocked, the Malaysian squad intensified their attacks, but still failed to penetrate the Vietnamese defence. In second half, head coach Tan Cheng Hoe made several exchanges,  including replacing Mohamadou Sumareh with Muhammad Safawi Rasidl, but luck was not on their side when the host netted another goal through Nguyen Anh Duc in the 60th minute. The 2-0 score remained unchanged until the final whistle. Meanwhile, Myanmar defeated Laos 3-1 in another Group A match at the Laos National Stadium. Malaysia must win against Myanmar in the final Group A match at the National Stadium Bukit Jalil here on Nov 24 if they want to continue their campaign to win the title in the biennial football championship. -- BERNAMA