Sports

Monday November 19, 2007

Our Under-23 boys beaten by Maldives in friendly

PETALING JAYA: The national Under-23 football team preparing for the Korat SEA Games were beaten 0-1 by Maldives at the MBPJ Stadium in Kelana Jaya on Saturday.

Maldives skipper Assad Abdul Ghani headed in the winning goal in the 47th minute.

The match started at 4.30pm and it was to help the team get used to the afternoon kick-off time for matches at the Games.

Assistant coach Mohd Zaki Sheikh Ahmad said: “Generally, the players did well.”

The national team are having several matches ahead of the Games.

But the next match against Botswana on Wednesday has been cancelled. The match against Yemen last Wednesday was also cancelled.

That leaves a match to be played against Indonesia on Saturday.

An earlier match against the Thailand Under-23 team in Bangkok last Monday ended in a 1-1 draw.

National chief coach B. Sathianathan was not present for the friendly against Maldives as he was observing the Beijing Olympic qualifying match between Vietnam and Japan in Hanoi. Japan trounced Vietnam 4-0 at My Dinh Stadium on Saturday.

Vietnam are Malaysia's first opponents in Group B of the Korat Games and the match will be played on Dec 1. The other teams in the group are Laos and Singapore. Group A comprises Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand.

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