The Boys Lost Their Rhythm In The First Half - Malaysian Head Coach

From Vikneswaran Raman MANILA, Nov 26 (Bernama) -- Malaysia’s Under 22 (U-22) squad head coach Ong Kim Swee, after seeing his charges settle for a 1-1 draw in their opening SEA Games match against Myanmar on Monday, admitted that his players had failed to find their rhythm in the first 45 minutes of the game. Despite having to share the spoils, he was pleased that they managed to overcome their lacklustre first half and do better in the second in the match played at the Rizal Memorial Stadium. “We have to understand opening matches are not always easy, the players have not played as a unit for some time. We were quite lost and faced some difficulty in the first half, but we improved and had more chances than Maynmar in the second half,” he told reporters after the match. In the match, Myanmar who displayed a speedy offensive game, shocked Malaysia with a goal from Kyaw Soe Moe in the 13th minute, before a Muhammad Hadi Fayyadh Abdul Razak header 11 minutes later rescued the national squad from defeat. Kim Swee also played down forward Muhammad Akhyar Abdul Rashid’s injury, saying that he only suffered a muscle pull after facing some difficulty adjusting to the synthetic field. Meanwhile, ​​​​​​​Myanmar head coach, Velizar Popov said his boys will not stop playing attacking football in their following games. “I think it is a fair result...Malaysia had a fantastic game, played very good football and it is very difficult to beat them, but we played pretty well and our tactical play was very good. “We will play the same style every match, if you know me well, how I play (when coaching) Kelantan in 2016, we play the same way. I do not see any need to change, but (we) need to do better with the ball,” the Bulgaria born coach said. Myanmar will play host country, the Philippines on Wednesday, while Malaysia’s next game is also with the Philippines on Friday after a three-day break. -- BERNAMA