The gap in quality between South Korea and the so-called challengers had been evident during the first round of fixtures in Seoul, and it would appear that Malaysia didn’t have what it would take to be able to give them a proper scare. Already two points and a mighty difference in goals behind the Koreans, what the Malaysians now realistically needed to do was focusing on finishing second. 

With these final six fixtures taking place in Singapore, they were now with home advantage, and would themselves look to inflict revenge for that 1-0 loss to today’s opposition in South Korea nine days earlier. 

Our footage from this fixture contains approximately 42 minutes in total, of which 32 stem from the first half. While both line-ups are being displayed on-screen just as the match has got underway, there are no jersey numbers attached to the player names, and so identifying each individual in the Singaporean XI has proved to be tricky. The English speaking commentator does say the names of a number of individuals over the course of the 42 minutes of video action, but they’re not necessarily identical with other information available. We believe we’ve eventually got them correctly sussed out, and in case not, we apologize. 

There appears to have been a number of changes in Singapore’s line-up compared to the one which had taken to the field in the previous clash between these two. Seven names remain from the 1-0 loss seen from their perspective. In the Malaysian eleven, nine names remain from when the two last met. 

Referee is 46 year old Soetoyo Hartasardjono from Indonesia. 

Singapore (4-4-2)

Name	Notes	Age	Club
1 David Lee		31
2 Sudiat Dali		27
5 Borhan Abu Samah		24
8 Salim bin Moin		27
10 Hasnim Haron	sub 68′	22
12 Darimosuvito Devaraj	sub 85′	22
14 A.R.J. Mani
15 Thambiayah Pathmanathan (c)		33
16 Ishak Saad		27
17 Tay Peng Kee		27
18 Razali Saad		24

Substitutes
4 Hazali Nasiron	on 68′
11 Jamludain Hassan	on 85′

Manager: Jita Singh

Malaysia (4-4-2)

Player	Notes	Age	Club
21 Ahmad Sobri Ismail		26
2 Kin Hong Lee		24
4 Chow Siew Yai	sub 60′	25
7 Ahmad Yusuf (c)		28
8 Lim Teong Kim		25
9 Dollah Salleh		25
12 Azizol Abu Haniffah	sub 69′	29
14 Kanawathi Ravichandran		24
15 Salim Mahmud Muhaidin		27
16 Prazip Ravindran		25
17 Zainal Abidin Hassan		26

Substitutes
3 Serbegeth Singh	on 60′	28
18 Fadhirul Annuar	on 69′

Manager: Trevor Hartley

Tactical line-ups

Match report

First half: 

In the early stages of the opening half, it is the visiting side which appears to be in control, as they move the ball around swiftly in midfield, where captain Yusuf has a big say. The ball goes through him quite a lot. Singapore are rarely able to string several passes together, although it is they who arrive at the first opportunity when striker Kee runs through the centre after Yai fails to clear the ball. However, he needs to rush his finish as Muhaidin closes in, and what is eventually a toe-poke sees his effort well clear the bar. Kee, though, is a keen runner, and will go on and produce a fairly decent performance, often being the main attacking thorn in the visitors’ side. 

We continue to see Malaysia on top despite that one blip when Kee had been allowed in, and in Azizol skipper Yusuf has a capable companion in the centre of the pitch. Together they boss proceedings, as the visitors carve out a number of half chances. Striker Salleh is a notorious goalscorer, and he has a poke just wide of the upright from Hassan’s header down, and then he shoots weakly straight into the expecting arms of goalkeeper Lee. There’s also an effort from the lively Kim along the left hand side, who gets into the area and fires a shot straight into the chest of Lee after he’d combined well with left-back Muhaidin. His previous effort, that powerless shot from 20 yards or so, had come after an excellent initiative by right-back Ravichandran, who seemed quite willing to participate in attack. He strode forward quite majestetically on a couple of occasions, and looked a decent asset. 

Goal!

There’s a breakthrough as Malaysia take the lead just before the half reaches 20 minutes. Based on the footage available to us, it can not  be said to be an undeserved lead, and it comes when central midfielder Azizol moves past any challenge and gets into the area before he fires goalwards, only to see the ball saved on the goalline by centre-half Ishak Saad. However, the Singapore defender was unable to do anything with the rebound, which reached Kim, who controlledly struck home a low drive past Saad on the goalline and inside the upright. The goal took Malaysia up to six points, the same tally as South Korea on the table summit, but with a vastly inferior goal difference to the group favourites. 

Singapore

The hosts, coached by Jita Singh, were in a 4-4-2 formation, and between the sticks they had experienced custodian David Lee, who was a well-reputed goalkeeper in the South East parts of Asia. Directly in front of him was inspirational captain and centre-half Thambiayah Pathmanthan, who was leading by example. He seemed quite impressive in the air, winning aerial challenges from long punts down the field by the visiting goalkeeper. Alongside him in the heart of the defence was Ishak Saad, who had made that initial goalline clearance before the goal. He was a much more anonymous player. Neither full-back seemed particularly daring on this occasion, with Sudiat Dali struggling with the busy Kim along the right hand side, while reputed tough-man Borhan Abu Samah operated down the left. 

They had a player sitting in the anchor role, and this was Razali Saad in the #18 shirt. Again, he was another unspectacular player, while there seemed to be more tenacity in his central midfield partner Salim bin Moin, who was a more box-to-box kind of player, joining in attack whenever there was an opportunity to do so. Their right hand man was A.R.J. Mani, who lent a more industrious impression in these early stages than the player along the left, as Mani (whom the commentator would refer to as ‘Changa’ or ‘Changathamilman’) would at times also tuck in, trying to add pressure on Malaysia’s superior pair in centre mid. Hasnim Haron appeared along the opposite flank, and he seemed to be keen on assisting his left-back with Malaysia’s right hand side often being a threat. 

While we’ve already mentioned how the lively Kee was a busy bee up top. his partner Darimosuvito Devaraj, despite having a relatively sound reputation in the game, looked desolate in the first half of the opening period. As the rain started falling heavily, he could do little right, and he didn’t offer Kee much in terms of aid to try and con the visiting central defensive partnership into making mistakes. 

Torrential rain

While the pitch had not looked good from the off, the playing surface surely wasn’t helped by the fact that the rain intensified severely as the first half moved along. From before the opening goal, it seemed like heaven’s gates had opened, and players were struggling with their footing. Malaysia, who had dominated until the opening goal, lost their way, though it is difficult to say whether it was down to the downpour or the fact that they suddenly found themselves a goal down. 

The game wasn’t really fast paced. There were few proper challenges, and while this could partially be due to the soggy pitch and heavy rain, neither team seemed adapt for overly physical tactics. Both sets of players were rather small in size, although it did look like Malaysia had a tall centre-forward in Hassan. However, he couldn’t turn his size into aerial dominance against the Singaporeans, who stood relatively firm in the difficult conditions. With the odd exception, as he would for a second time head the ball on for Salleh to connect with first time, but the leading scorer flicked it wide. 

Malaysia

The visitors had played with a spare man at the back in their 3-0 loss to South Korea, but they had abandoned those tactics here, and were playing it square across the back, as libero from Seoul, Naina Mohd, was nowhere to be seen. The central defensive pairing ahead of him that day, however, Yai and Lee, remained. They had also replaced their goalkeeper since the first batch of fixtures in South Korea, when Mohamed Mahmud had kept goal. On this occasion, their goalkeeper is Ahmad Sobri. Their pair of full-backs, as previously touched on, would join in attack, and in particular right-back Ravichandran looked steady and composed when he trotted forward. 

Malaysia had abandoned their libero and added a fourth man to their midfield since the loss against the South Koreans, and they had central duo Azizol Hanifah and skipper Ahmed Yusuf controlling operations in the early stages. They both seemed quite adept when in possession, and they would often have plenty of space in midfield, with only bin Moin doing his best in closing them down and denying them space. To the left in midfield was, according to the TV commentator, the Malaysian vice captain Lim Teong Kim, who certainly was a heavily involved player for most of this game. He had scored the opening goal, and would lend his support to the front two, and seemed to link up well with main striker Salleh. He would run with the ball at pace, and seemed to be someone whom the Singaporean defence struggled to maintain. Down the other flank, the right, was Ravindran, who did not seem as impressive in his striding forward as the full-back behind him. 

Dollah Salleh leads the Malaysian line, and he does so well, with plenty of endeavour and presence, although he will at times seek to engage a bit deep, and not always act as a typical “number 9”. Hence his efforts from distance in this first half, albeit yet without much success. He had been partnered by Ravindran, their right sided midfielder for the occasion, in Seoul, but here Hassan has joined him up top, presumably to try and win headers for him for Salleh to get on the end of. And it has worked reasonably well on a couple of occasions so far, even if it has not yielded a goal. 

Singapore take over

Just after the half hour mark, there’s an unexpected leveller from the hosts. They mount an attack along their left hand side, and the ball is worked out for midfielder bin Moin to have a strike from all of 25 yards. Alas, the Malaysian ‘keeper makes a meal of the shot as it bounces in front of him, and the rebound is struck home by Mani in much a similar fashion to when Kim had opened the scoring for the away side. There had not been much threat from Singapore after they had gone behind, although the wet monsoon like weather appeared to favour them as the half wore on, with Malaysia’s passing in midfield becoming less effective. 

While Singapore don’t exactly put their opponents in a headlock thereafter, they certainly are buoyed by the goal, and show little fear. Malaysia appear somewhat stunned, and in the wake of the equalizer, there’s some poor passing accuracy on display from players in both camps. Suddenly, though, left-back Abu Samah hits a ball over the top for Kee to run on to. He evades a desperate tackle from Yai as the last man of defence, and wants to take the ball around the goalkeeper. However, just as he’s about to take it wide of Sobri, he loses his footing, and the opportunity is gone. 

After Salleh had had an opportunistic strike from distance saved by Lee, after it had taken a deflection, the home side again hit it long as they are quite direct in this phase of the game. They eventually win a throw in down by the left hand corner flag, and captain Pathmanathan’s long throw is ultimately recouped for midfield man bin Moin to have a go from nearly 25 yards. On the wet surface the ball skids into the bottom left corner with Sobri really without much of a chance. It was a sweet strike. The home side have come from behind to lead with seven minutes left of the first half. This is some development. 

The half continues to follow a familiar pattern, with attacks both ways, and there’s another Salleh effort from distance which Lee does well to hold on to low down to his left, while Kee again makes it through inside the Malaysian penalty area after Hong and Yai combined have failed to clear the ball. However, with left-back Muhaidin closing in, the nippy forward’s hurried effort ends up in the side netting with just goalkeeper Sobri between himself and 3-1. It is a bit of a see-saw affair by now. 

Singapore see the half out with their slender lead intact, and all of a sudden they’re in the driving seat for second place behind the South Koreans. Visiting manager Trevor Hartley surely can’t be content with being 2-1 down against the country where he had previously served in a capacity as ‘director of coaching’.

Second half: 

It is an in media res start as far as we’re concerned, but we know through statistics such as the time for substitutes that both sides reappear with the same starting elevens. For Singapore it is about holding on to an impressive win, while Malaysia would wish to improve on their prowess in the attacking third of the pitch. So far, the goal apart, they’ve been mainly left to shooting from distance, and it has hardly bothered home ‘keeper Lee. 

Our approximately ten minutes of second half footage shows a Malaysian barrage on the home goal after some initial promise from Singapore. Of course, you can’t have a neutral verdict from a short résumé, but at least you see the scale of the chances created, and it is fair to say that the Singaporeans were a tad lucky to hold on for as long as they did. The rain appeared to have laid off, and perhaps this contributed favourably for the visitors. 

The first opportunity arrives from an Azizol right wing corner, which goalscorer Kim stabs goalwards on the far post, only to see Mani fortuitously make a goalline clearance on the post and divert it away for another corner. From this flag kick out on the left hand side, again swung into the area by Azizol Haniffah, the ball is eventually worked out to the edge of the area, where wide midfielder Ravindran, who’s hardly been the one featuring the most prominently, drives a left-footed shot towards the left hand post, only to see Lee fling himself to his right to make a flying save and concede another corner in the process. It was a fine shot by the Malaysian wide right man, and he drew a proper ‘TV save’ out of the custodian. 

Set-piece situations appear tricky for the Singaporeans to deal with, and while it is likely that the next corner from the left that we’re shown is not the one that came as a result from Lee’s flying save, Azizol’s kick nevertheless made its way into the centre, and when the ball reached Malaysian skipper Yusuf 14 yards out, his low shot was desperately saved on the goalline by his opposing captain Pathmanathan. 

A header from only a few yards out following a Ravichandran cross from the right hand side went wide when Kim should’ve done better; he was unmarked and right in front of goal. The chances just kept coming, and Singapore appeared to have zero structure in their ranks. At this point, the visitors had brought on centre-back Serbegeth for Yai, although we’ve no video visual confirmation of the substitution. However, it can clearly be seen that the player now in the left-sided centre-back position is of a different build than his predecessor.

Both sides will in fact make use of their allowed quota of two substitutions each, and neither is captured on our footage. We know that Singapore’s wide left midfielder Hasnim will be replaced by Nasirom about midway through the half, while the away side withdraw Azizol, perhaps a tad surprisingly, and replace him with Annuar around the same time. Some five minutes from the end, take off striker Devaraj and bring on Hassan. Since Azizol had been the regular corner taker, Malaysia had needed to find a replacement when they were once again awarded a left wing kick, and the honour went to captain Yusuf, who swung it expertly towards the edge of the six yard area, where Salleh had run himself free from Devaraj, who did a dreadful job at marking him, and lept high to controlledly direct his headed equalizer via the ground. 

The substitution of Devaraj must have come right in the wake of the 84th minute equalizer, and his manager Singh might have let the forward know that it was totally unacceptable to mark as poorly as he had done for that goal. There was still time for Malaysia to have a sliced effort from the edge of the box hit the upright, though it was difficult to see whose attempt it was; it might well have been Kim. 

Singapore will have been mightily relieved at the sound of the final whistle, and 2-2 must have felt like a big disappointment for Malaysia, despite their equalizer only arriving six minutes from time. They clearly seemed to be the stronger side, barring the final 15 minutes of the first half, when they conceded twice.