Just leave it to me: Goalkeeper Syihan Hazmi intends to pull all the stops against Taiwan.
PETALING JAYA: First choice goalkeeper Syihan Hazmi has taken the criticism in his stride after letting in three goals against Kyrgyzstan that had put the team in a spot of bother in the World Cup qualifiers on Nov 16.
Syihan, 27, says that no goalkeeper wants to concede many goals and has promised to learn from the mistakes to become a more reliable performer between the posts in the coming matches.
Kyrgyzstan hit three quick goals past Syihan in the space of 15 minutes to take a 3-1 lead before Malaysia fought back to carve out a 4-3 win.
“No goalkeeper wants to let in many goals in a game but I have to accept the reality that it has happened,” said Syihan.
“As footballers, we cannot run away from this (criticism) but we have to keep working hard to improve and rectify our errors.”
Malaysia, ranked world No. 137, staged a remarkable recovery to overcome world No. 97 Kyrgyzstan 4-3 to begin their World Cup qualifying Group D campaign on a high.
Harimau Malaya coach Kim Pan-gon will still stick with Syihan for Malaysia’s second match against world No. 152 Taiwan at the Taipei Municipal Stadium tomorrow and the JDT custodian is aiming to avoid any blunders to ensure a second victory for Malaysia.
On Friday, the goalkeepers, including reserves Azri Ghani and Sikh Izhan, were seemingly put under additional drill but Syihan said it was not a mode of punishment from Pan-gon.
“Goalkeepers have been undergoing additional drills even before this because our coach doesn’t want us to take any opposition lightly. It’s a normal practice,” added Syihan.
“Higher or lower ranking doesn’t matter as we cannot take Taiwan lightly and need to give 100 percent focus on the match.”
The Harimau Malaya squad left for Taipei on Saturday chasing an important win against Taiwan to increase their advantage in Group D to advance to the third round of the qualifiers.
