NATIONAL youth coach Ong Kim Swee is keeping faith in his players despite a humbling 3-0 defeat by South Korea in their opening Group A match at the Asian Games yesterday.
Malaysia comfortably repelled the hosts up till the 78th minute when two quick goals from poor defending ended all hope of gaining a surprise result to boost their chance of making it through the group.
The scoreline, in the end, was probably justified considering South Korea missed two good chances in the first 10 minutes.
“We knew when we came here we would be facing a very strong team,” said Kim Swee after the match played in front of 38,500 spectators at the Munhak Stadium.
“Defensively we did well up to the second goal when we lost concentration towards the end. That’s what happens when you play a very good team and we got punished.
“The players were very disciplined and tried to match Korea, who are far away better than us.”
Kim Swee rested captain Aidil Zafuan Radzak, as the defender recovers from a hamstring strain, and played Hazwan as a lone striker with Nazmi Faiz Mansor in support.
Although the hosts dominated possesion, South Korea were content on sitting on a 1-0 lead from Rim Chang-woo's 27th minute header.
That only came about as centre-back Amer Saidin was off the pitch getting treatment for a head clash when South Korea won a corner and scored against 10 men.
Malaysia only had one real scoring chance when Ahmad Hazwan Bakri’s sweetly-struck half-volley had South Korea goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu at full-stretch late in the first half.
But with 12 minutes remaining, towering striker Kim Shin-wook, who stands at 1.98m, made it 2-0 from Kim Seung-dae’s squared ball before the latter capitalised on an atrocious back-pass by Brendan Gan to beat goalkeeper Izham Tarmizi Roslan via the post four minutes later.
The midfield pairing of Australia-born Brendan and Junior Eldstal showed promise until the former's terrible error ruined his competitive debut for Malaysia.
“We have two more matches to play and we need to collect maximum points to go through,” said Kim Swee, who also left Gary Steven Robbat out yesterday.
“I did not want to risk Aidil and Gary because if they got injured in this game, they would have been out of the tournament.
“It’s better we get them back fit in the next match, where they could play one half and then be ready for Saudi Arabia (on Sept 21).”
With Saudi Arabia beating Laos 3-0 in the early kick-off, Wednesday’s tie against Laos takes on greater significance.
“Because of the goal difference we'll need at least three goals against Laos,” said Kim Swee following Malaysia’s fourth consecutive defeat at the Asian Games since beating Kyrgysztan in 2010.
“We can't take things for granted and saw Laos hold out for 75 minutes against Saudi Arabia.”
When asked how Malaysia are going to get the goals after being limited to just one chance yesterday, the coach said: “It’s a different team with a different style of play.
“We need to score to qualify, if we don't we’re out. It’s a different ball game and you know that Korea are a totally different side.”
Raed Abdullah Alghamdi ended Laos’ resistance by converting a 75th-minute penalty before Laos’ substitute goalkeeper Vathana Keodoung saved Saleh Khalid Alshehri’s penalty 11 minutes later.
But Alshehri atoned for his miss within seconds off a header before Majed Omar Kanabah smacked in the third from distance on 90 minutes.