HANOI – National Under-23 (U-23) head coach, Brad Maloney was proud of his boys’ performance in the 31st SEA Games football competition but disappointed after Malaysia was defeated by Indonesia in the bronze medal match at the My Dinh National Stadium here, yesterday.
Malaysia lost 3-4 in the penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw in 90 minutes of regulation time which forced the winner to be decided by the “lottery” without going into 30 minutes of extra time.
Maloney said it was another game in the tournament that his side dominated with several golden chances mainly in the second half but failed to finish it off with the desired result.
“We just couldn’t manage to put the ball in the back of the net, so disappointed honestly with the result. My players were undefeated in 90 minutes of football in each game.
“It’s difficult to accept but again they play their hearts out and for me again it was a performance to be proud of,” he told the post-match press conference.
Ronaldo Joybera R Junior and substitute Muhammad Hadi Fayyadh Abdul Razak scored for Indonesia and Malaysia respectively in the match.
However, in the shootout, Indonesia’s goalkeeper Ernando Ari Sutaryadi emerged the hero after saving two of Malaysia’s spot-kicks, taken by Muhammad Hadi and Luqman Hakim Shamsudin, while Indonesia also missed one when Asnawi Mangkualam Bahar hit the bar.
This was the second consecutive loss for Maloney’s charges in this edition of the biennial games after their heartbreaking semi-final defeat in extra-time against Vietnam on Thursday.
Despite being upset to return home empty-handed, Maloney was proud of the commitment and spirit shown by his boys who always wanted the team to succeed throughout the biennial sporting event.
“It’s disappointing not to bring home a medal but I can’t fault the boys’ performance. These players I believe performed beyond expectations and they competed with nations with overaged players and I couldn’t give them more credit for their performance,” he said.
Meanwhile, Maloney said the focus after this would be on the 2022 U-23 Asian Cup Championship in Uzbekistan from June 1 to 19 which will see Malaysia once again compete with Vietnam and Thailand as well as giants South Korea.
The 50-year-old Australian coach said the experience of going through six matches in 14 days in Hanoi was very meaningful for his players and hoped that it could be useful to face the tougher competition in Uzbekistan.
“It’s over now so we have to put it behind us and refocus on the next tournament, we do meet Vietnam and Thailand in the Asian Cup tournament group stage so we’ll face them again and we should be well prepared for that and take a lot out of this tournament (SEA Games),” he said.
The defeat yesterday meant that the national squad failed to pick up a medal at the SEA Games for the second consecutive time after Datuk Ong Kim Swee’s squad took the silver in the 2017 Kuala Lumpur edition. – Bernama, May 23, 2022
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