MALAYSIA survived a brutal match to beat South Africa 4-3 and squeeze into the quarter-finals of hockey's Junior World Cup in Bhubanesar yesterday.
But there were foolish moments in the Malaysian camp after Fahmi Khalid scored the opening goal in the 29th minute.
In a moment of madness, Muhibddin Moharam, who was already walking around with a green card to his name, celebrated the goal by taunting the South African defenders, and was duly sent to the sin-bin.
The umpires had to be on their best and strict with the cards.
South Africa tried hard to get back into the match every time Malaysia took the lead.
But in the end, Malaysia crawled past the finishing line in this testing match to be among the top-eight in the 16-team tournament.
South Africa snapped at Malaysia's heels all the way, and kept equalising until the final goal was delivered by skipper Akhimullah Anuar Esook in the 56th minute.
The other Malaysian goals were scored by Kamarulzaman Kamaruddin (41st) and Shamir Rizmi (49th).
On target for South Africa were Guy Morgan (34th) and Jared Campbell (48th, 54th).
Malaysia will next meet either of the top-two teams in Group B who are expected to be France and India.
In the seven-goal thriller, Malaysia's Kamarulzaman Kamaruddin was picked as the Man-of-the-Match.
"We fought for everything by working for each other in every match, and we did not stand down when the game became robust.
"That's the main reason why we qualified for the quarter-finals," said Kamarulzaman.
It may not be the most impressive of scores, going into the last eight of the tournament, as Malaysia had beaten Chile 2-1 and drawn 1-1 with Belgium earlier.
But in the end, it's the chance to join the top eight that matters for Malaysia who will be hosting the Junior World Cup in Kuala Lumpur in 2023.