ULAANBAATAR: Malaysia didn't get the desired result against Mongolia, and this has left them with a harder route in the Under-20 Asian Cup qualifiers.
On Wednesday, the national Under-19 team set out to get full points against hosts Mongolia in their Group E opener in Ulaanbaatar, but got a 1-1 draw instead.
Mongolia led in the 24th minute through a penalty by Bunyannemekh Ganbat before the young Tigers equalised in the 54th minute through Aliff Izwan.
Now, they must win their remaining two group matches, against Sri Lanka tomorrow and South Korea on Sunday.
The group winners and the best five group runners-up will advance to the competition proper in Uzbekistan next year.
Coach Hassan Sazali put up a brave front and remained optimistic of progressing to the final competition.
However, Malaysia's shaky performance against Mongolia, which saw them having to come back from a goal down, did little to inspire confidence.
Hassan admitted he was disappointed with the result but believes his team can still progress.
"Of course, we were disappointed with our first game because we did not collect full points," said Hassan.
"Now, we must beat Sri Lanka and by a big margin too to improve our chances of being in the best five runners-up. Goal difference will be taken into account."
After Sri Lanka were routed 6-0 by South Korea on Wednesday, Malaysia will hope to get a big win too.
But Hassan warned his boys not to take things easy.
"It will not be easy to face Sri Lanka because they will fight harder after losing by a big margin against South Korea," said Hassan.
The last time Malaysia qualified for the Under-20 Asian Cup was in 2019 when they finished as group winners in the qualifiers.
KW: football, Malaysia, Mongolia, Under-20 Asian Cup, Hassan Sazali