Malaysia improve

05/07/2003

MALAYSIA played much better in the second friendly against China at the
KLHA Stadium in Kuala Lumpur yesterday even though they only managed to
score one goal and prevented the Chinese from scoring any.
Jiwa Mohan scored a field goal in the 13th minute, and Malaysia held on
to the slim lead by frustrating the speedy Chinese players by taking the
lion's share of ball possession.
There were plenty of back and square passes, unlike the first friendly
where the ball was pumped upfront. And this caught China by surprise.
Chief coach Paul Lissek was impressed with Shukri Mutalib who was
playing only his second international but sadly, the 17-year-old will not
be available for the Champions Challenge in South Africa on July 19-27.
Yesterday, Malaysia were in total control of the match in the first half
and it took China nine minutes before they could break into the Malaysian
25-yard line.
The backline of K. Gobinathan, S. Kuhan and Nor Azlan Bakar made very
few errors but in the second half, China were unlucky not to have scored,
especially in the last 10 minutes of play.
Skipper Kuhan was a spent force in the last 15 minutes after Lissek
utilised him for 70 minutes without rest.
The third friendly will be held at the KLHA Stadium tomorrow starting at
6pm.
(END)