KUALA LUMPUR: The national Under-23 (U-23) football squad ended their campaign in the 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup without any victories after losing 1-2 to Kuwait in the final Group D match at the Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah, Qatar early today.
The defeat saw Juan Torres Garrido’s squad finish the campaign at the bottom of the group standings without any points following defeats of 0-2 each to Uzbekistan and Vietnam in the first two matches.
In the match against Kuwait, the rhythm of the Harimau Muda squad was disrupted when they had to play with 10 players after goalkeeper Sikh Izhan Nazrel Sikh Azman was shown a red card at the end of the first half for fouling Kuwait captain Salman Mohammed outside the penalty box.
Forward Luqman Hakim Shamsudin was sacrificed by Garrido to bring in substitute goalkeeper Muhammad Firdaus Irman Mohd Fadhil.
However, Malaysia fell behind at the end of the extended first half by 15 minutes through a penalty converted by Salman after Muhamad Umar Hakeem Suhar Rezwan was penalised for fouling Talal Al Qaisi following a review by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system.
Muhammad Mukhairi Ajmal Mahadi missed the chance to equalise for Malaysia in the 56th minute when he failed to finish a cross from Muhammad Haqimi Azim Rosli before Muhammad Firdaus saved a one-on-one attempt against Salman in the 59th minute.
However, a minute later, Malaysia faced more pressure as Emilio Peixe’s team successfully extended their lead after Talal headed in a cross from Sultan Al Faraj.
Entering the final 10 minutes of the match, Salman was ordered off the field after being shown a red card by referee Alexander King from Australia following a harsh tackle on Muhamad Umar Hakeem in the 83rd minute, leaving both teams to finish the game with 10 players.
The score remained 2-1 in favour of Kuwait until the final whistle, allowing Peixe’s team to surpass Malaysia to finish Group D in third place with one point, but still failing to qualify for the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, Uzbekistan progressed to the quarterfinals as the Group D champions after defeating Vietnam, who had also confirmed their ticket to the knockout rounds, 3-0 in another match at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha.
During the post-match press conference, Garrido apologised to all the fans because his team failed to reach the expected level.
“And coming (to today’s game) from the last two defeats it’s a bit difficult. The team tried and gave everything, we’ve been close to getting the second equaliser but didn’t manage to get it,” he said.
The 44-year-old Spaniard said his team had several chances to open the scoring before facing an unexpected situation when they had to play with 10 players thus putting the team in a difficult situation.
“We cannot be positive on that (results) because our expectations were different and it’s difficult to define because when it comes to performance, my analysis is one (and) when it comes to results and what’s happening in the games was a bit different.
“We need to apologise to the fans because we didn’t reach the level we wanted to,” he added.
