Malaysia 2 Australia 5

Note: Australian goals scored by Matt Ghodes (2), Simon Orchard, Jamie Dwyer, Liam De Young.


AUSTRALIA beat Malaysia 5-2 in the second friendly in Perth yesterday, with Razie Rahim scoring a brace against a much stronger Aussie line-up.
Malaysia, who lost the first match 3-1, faced the World No 1 side minus five regulars as the Australians are also trying out new blood.
“It was a much stronger Australian side as compared to the first match, and there was tremendous pressure in the first half.
“However, the players got used to it in the second half and played much better and it was an excellent work out against the best team in the world,” said Malaysian team manager Stephen van Huizen.
Yesterday the match was played with a yellow ball, and on Thursday when the teams square off for the third friendly, the match will be held on a blue turf -- the same as the London Olympics venue.
“Australia have 38 players in training and I believe they will utilise an even stronger side on the blue pitch, and it will be a perfect tune-up to our Dublin Olympics Qualifier,” said Stephen.
Malaysia will play South Korea, Ireland, Chile, Ukraine and Russia in the Dublin Qualifiers where only the gold medallists will advance to the Olympics.
Down Under, the national side will play a total of four friendlies against Australia and two more against the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, SMK Datuk Taha beat Yayasan Pahang 1-0 in Division Two, Group B match with the goal coming off Badrul Hisyam in the 33rd minute. Their earlier encounter in Kuantan last week was washed off by rain.