Malaysian dream shattered

Double act:Pakistan's Rehan butt (on the ground) celebrates after scoring against Malaysia in the Asia Cup semi-finals Thursday.Inset:The Malaysian players celebrating after taking a 1-0 lead.-AP-bernama

By Ajitpal Singh

PAKISTAN must thank their stand-in coach Shahid Ali Khan for their 4-2 victory over Malaysia in the semi-finals of the 8th AirAsia Men's Asia Cup at the Wisma Belia Stadium in Kuantan yesterday.

Shahid, who was the Malaysia goalkeeper coach between 2005-2008, used his technical know-how to pull off this well-calculated victory.
"It was an advantage for me as I know the Malaysian structure well. I know the Malaysian players' strong points and weaknesses and it helped me to execute the right strategies in this match.
"They are rather weak on the flanks and it made the difference," said Shahid in Kuantan yesterday.
In tomorrow's final, Pakistan will face South Korea, who thrashed China 5-1 in the last four. The winners will gain automatic qualification to next year's World Cup in New Delhi.
National interim coach Tai Beng Hai was quite happy with his players' performance though they failed to reach the final.
"My boys' tried very hard and I'm not disappointed. We matched Pakistan but luck was not on our side. Pakistan were much fresher as they had rested since Sunday but my boys only had a day's rest," said Beng Hai.
Malaysia took the lead from a quick counter attack after poor execution by Pakistan during a penalty corner in the third minute. Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin Tengku Jalil who left several Pakistan defenders trailing, was fouled just outside the semicircle. He quickly laid a clever pass to Ismail Abu who finished with a reverse stick goal.
Pakistan were rattled and the combination of Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin and Ismail Abu caught their defence off guard on several occasions after the goal. But the Malaysians were wasteful with their shots.
Pakistan tried to step up their pace and they were rewarded when Rehan Butt deflected Haseem Khan's cross from the right flank for the equaliser in the 18th minute.
The Malaysian defence fell apart soon after with Pakistan creating three scoring opportunities but keeper S. Kumar was up for the challenge.
Rehan was a menace to the Malaysians with his darting runs and he turned provider when his cross from the right flank found Akhtar Ali, who easily rammed the ball home in the 46th minute.
Rehan scored his second goal with a nicely taken field attempt in the 63rd minute and Haseem Khan put the result beyond doubt with Pakistan's fourth goal two minutes later.
Ismail Abu got a consolation goal for Malaysia with a penalty corner effort in the last minute.
Meanwhile, South Korea turned in a superb second half performance to beat China 5-1 to qualify for their second successive Asia Cup final.
You Hyo Sik was the star of the Korean team when he scored a hattrick with three fine solo attempts in the 36th, 41st and 68th minutes.