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Football: Malaysia seize Olympic advantage

Malaysia’s Faizal Abu Bakar (right) and Lebanon’s Kojok Mahmoud fight for the ball in a second round first leg match in Beirut yesterday. The teams drew 0-0. —  Picture by Supian Ahmad
Malaysia’s Faizal Abu Bakar (right) and Lebanon’s Kojok Mahmoud fight for the ball in a second round first leg match in Beirut yesterday. The teams drew 0-0. — Picture by Supian Ahmad
MALAYSIA kept alive their hopes of appearing in their first Olympic Games since 1980 in Moscow when they earned a creditable 0-0 draw with Lebanon in a second round first leg match in Beirut yesterday.
The result put Malaysia in a favourable position as they host Lebanon in the return leg in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

The winners will advance to the third round of 12 teams, which decides the qualifiers for next year's London Olympics.

The team got off to a nervy start with the bigger Lebanese players dominating proceedings in the opening minutes.
Except for the four-man defence, led by centre backs Muslim Ahmad and Fadhli Mohd Shas, the other players were struggling to play their normal game.

They were also guilty at times in making bad passes and ball watching inside their own half.

Malaysia had two good chances in the first half, first through Wan Zack Haikal Wan Nor's thunderous attempt which hit the post after 11 minutes and Izzaq Faris Ramlan's header 10 minutes later.

However, Izzaq should have done better as the 21-year-old had only Lebanon goalkeeper Dakramanji Mohamad to beat from close range.

Goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi Che Mat and his rock-solid backline kept Lebanon's strikeforce, led by Haidar Mohamad, at bay on several occasions.

Although, Lebanon had the majority of possession in the first half, they did not really make dangerous attempts in their rivals' penalty box.

Their best chance arrived in the 32nd minute when Kojok Mahmoud latched on to a through pass but he shot across the goalmouth.

Coach Ong Kim Swee's halftime pep talk inspired the players to come back stronger in the second half.

The team played with more confidence and composure unlike in the opening 45 minutes as they dominated play in all aspects of the game with Lebanon opting for a more cautious approach.

In the 54th minute, Izzaq did perfectly well to control the ball before side-stepping a Lebanese defender in the box but his powerful rising shot was punched away by keeper Dakramanji.

Kim Swee lost patience with Izzaq's erratic play and substituted him with Syahrul Azwari Ibrahim four minutes later.

Syahrul's combination with the energetic Wan Zack Haikal caused a lot of problems to Lebanon with the latter almost putting the visitors ahead with a powerful shot from an acute angle, which again was parried by keeper Dakramanji.

Lebanon, however, crept back into the match and created opportunities late in the second half.

The visitors got nervous and in the process, conceded several free kicks but their opponents failed to take advantage of them.

But in injury time, Syahrul Azwari stunned the Lebanese defence by latching on to a pass inside the penalty box but he was slow to react.

RESULTS (1ST LEG): AUSTRALIA 3 YEMEN 0, SOUTH KOREA 3 JORDAN 1, NORTH KOREA 0 UAE 1, JAPAN 3 KUWAIT 1, CHINA 0 OMAN 1, UZBEKISTAN 1 HONG KONG 0, MALAYSIA 0 LEBANON 0.

Read more: NST

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