A SOLID defence took the national Under-21 team to the semi-finals of the Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy in Bandar Sri Begawan where they will face Myanmar today.
Coach Razip Ismail’s side made the last four, an improvement on the last tournament in 2012 when Malaysia only won one match, despite losing their last group game 2-1 against Brunei on Monday.
Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all finished on 10 points in Group B with the hosts missing out on goal difference.
Going into Monday’s game, Malaysia were safe in the knowledge that they would advance even with a one-goal defeat, having kept a clean sheet in their previous four matches.
In earlier Group B matches, Malaysia held Indonesia 0-0 before beating Vietnam (2-0), Cambodia (1-0) and Singapore (3-0).
Razip said he was proud of the fact that Malaysia had not conceded a goal until meeting Brunei.
"That was our fifth match in the tournament and we did well not to concede a goal up to that point," said Razip when contacted yesterday.
“We have only scored seven goals but the most important thing was to collect three points in every game.
“Our goals are spread across the team and we don’t rely on any particular individual for goals.”
Six players have scored for Malaysia with Ramzi Sufian scoring twice. All the players in the squad come from the Young Tigers B team playing in the S-League.
“We had a game just before coming here and I did not have time to bring in players from outside," said Razip.
“It would have been difficult to integrate them into the team at short notice.”
Myanmar’s side are an Under-19 team but Razip said they cannot be taken lightly, having topped Group A with a 100 per cent record, including a 3-2 win over Thailand.
“They are preparing for the AFC Under-19 Championship and from what I’ve seen, they have a very good and fast team,” he said.
Midfielder Afiq Fazail (groin) and forward Nurshamil Abdul Ghani (knock) are doubtful for today.