The Malaysia Experiment - SEA Championship 2020 | Group A

"I'm not in competition with anybody but myself. My goal is to beat my last performance." - Celine Dion

SEA Championship 2020 aka Suzuki Cup kicks off a week after our trip to Qatar! We're drawn in Group A together with the likes of Philippines (98th), Indonesia (112nd), Vietnam (122nd) and Myanmar (128th). We've recently just achieved a record world ranking of 50th place! We're not where we want to be yet, but looking back, we've made so much progress within the last 4 years. I'm so proud of the boys!

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We open against Vietnam, whom we met in the group stages of the 2018 edition as well. I'm surprised to see Indonesia take a beating from Myanmar, a resounding 3-0 victory! Hopefully, we can replicate our previous success against Vietnam and keep up the pace.

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I lined up a 4-4-2 as it has shown a good degree of success in the past few matches that included a 3-1 win against Qatar. Luqman Hussain (ML) will be playing slightly out of position while Muhd Syazwan Ismawi (DL) is preferred on the right of defense. Hafiz Azman (AMC) has no place in this formation as Muhaimin Jamaludin (ST) is finally playing with strike partner as I paired him up with Ibrahim Salleh (ST).

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In just 13 minutes of playing time, Jamaludin tears his calf muscle and I had to haul him off. He's' my best striker but he's so injury prone I might need to reconsider about him taking a spot in my squad. It's his 7th injury in this year alone and this is a very serious one that'll keep him out for 3 to 4 months!

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0-0 at halftime. Nothing new. I know the injury might have messed up our plans with but I expect better from the boys. We're even losing in terms of possession.

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After an hour of play and Salleh was still performing poorly, I decided to bring on Azman for him and change my tactic to 4-4-1-1. Within 5 minutes of coming on, he sent a through ball to Jasni Abidin (ST) who volleyed it at the first attempt. To Phong (GK) managed to get to it but couldn't hold on to it due to the force of the powerful shot. Abidin beat Truong Truc Giang (DC) to the rebound and attempts a second volley from a tighter angle! This time the goalkeeper could react in time and we finally broke the deadlock.

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During injury time, Vietnam gifted us a goal when Abidin sent in a harmless cross. With the absence of pressure from any of our players, Phan Thanh Hung (DC) still manages to divert the ball into his own net as it ricochets off his right leg. He's going to remember this for the rest of his life. :/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRvZ3dd2PqU

So that wraps up a win and we bagged 3 points to keep up with the pace of Myanmar. We're in second place due to goal differences but we'll get a chance to rectify that in the next match as we welcome them at Bukit Jalil Stadium.

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The injury to Jamaludin forces us to revert back to 4-1-4-1 DM Asymmetric AM (L) formation as I've only got two fit strikers left on the squad and I would prefer to have one on the bench just in case I need to change anything halfway through the match.

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I was fearful that it would be another match where we just couldn't score in the first half, but we had a lucky break. Soe Kyaw Bo (ST) tripped Hussain in the penalty box and the referee points to the spot! Hussain made no mistake as he drilled it down the middle, tricking Zin Myo Oo (GK) into jumping to the side.

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We dominated the first half with 12 shots but only 3 were on target. I reminded the boys to give our fans something to shout about as well as to see the match out so we can top the table.

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A few minutes after the restart, I thought we would get another penalty as Kyaw Zayar Win (AMC) made a sliding tackle on Azman. The referee didn't give it and as I was furiously protesting, the ball fell to Salleh on the right. He spread the play to the left and Maung Zin (DR) was caught ball-watching as Hussain pounced on the ball. His first attempt actually hit Zin on the leg but it rebounded back to him. He attempts another shot with his quick reflexes and the goalkeeper was rooted to the spot. Just like that, Hussain doubled his tally as we doubled our lead.

https://youtu.be/nzYwhsqPtkw

Myanmar had nothing to show for besides the 16 fouls and 3 yellow cards. An easy win and we've got 2 more matches in the group stage before the knockout rounds. Let's hope to remain kings of ASEAN! ;)

If you enjoyed this entry, you can follow the story by clicking the link below: The Malaysia Experiment - SEA Championship 2020 | Group A | Part 2

If you missed out on any of my previous entries, you can check them out below:

The Malaysia Experiment - SEA Championship 2020 | Group A | Part 1