The Malaysia Experiment - Year in Review (2019)

"Makan bola, tidur bola..." - Coca-cola

We're finally rounding up the campaign, and we're in a position where 1 point is enough for qualification! I've full confidence the boys can wrap it up against Macau (189th), and leave the Singapore (121st) match with just local bragging rights to play for.

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A few updates in regards to the world of football, starting with individual player awards. Eden Hazard has reclaimed the Footballer of the Year award after losing it to Lionel Messi in 2018. Cristiano Ronaldo meanwhile has won the World Golden Ball as well as World Player of the Year award with 37 goals from 44 appearances. He also chipped in 9 assists. In Asia, Robbie Kruse won the Asian Footballer of the Year award with 201 voting points with Tom Rogic a very close second at 199 voting points. I've actually voted for him and I really feel for him for coming in second two years in a row. As for Asian Young Footballer of the Year award, after winning it twice by Malaysians (Abhishek Pannirselvam in 2017 and Lee Jinxiang in 2018), the Chinese dominated the polls. It's won by Chang Zhi this year, with an average rating of 7.22 (5 goals and 2 assists).

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Johor DT went on an amazing run in the Asian Confederation Cup; beating East Bengal from India in the Interzone Playoff semifinal and trashed Ryomyong from North Korea in the final.

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They faced Al-Mina'a from Iraq in the final. It was a very exciting match but their defense very really stubborn. Johor DT finally had a breakthrough in the 56th minute with an amazing volley by Ibrahim Salleh (ST). La'Vere Corbin-Ong (DL) won the man of the match award and it makes me wonder how our team could benefit from his skills if he chose us (62nd) over Canada (92nd).

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The Malaysian Super League moved up 7 places to 19th position in the latest Asian Competition Ranking and hopefully we'll finally have some clubs being able to compete in the Asian Champions League.

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Our Under 23s fell at the semifinal hurdle again at the Under 23 Asian Nations Cup 2020 against eventual champions - Japan Under 23s. It was a similar story during the last edition in 2018, but to China Under 23s. Both editions we also lost in the third-place playoff. Hopefully, we'll progress slightly further in the 2022 edition in Australia.

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Now back to Harimau Malaya as we welcome Macau (China PR) to Bukit Jalil Stadium on a hot and humid night. Another team to field five players cross the midfield. I've decided to rotate the squad and play a very young team, with Yeo Kok Luen (16 years old) in goal.

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It was worse this time around compared to the last time we met them as we entered the dressing room during halftime with the scores 0-0. I reminded the boys to get the job down regardless of the opposition, or the crowd (as we had a low attendance of just 7,594 in the stadium).

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The goal finally in the 74th minute. Mohd Zulkifli Mazlan met Luqman Hussain's corner kick at the near post and headed the ball in. He finally scores on his 21st international cap!

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In the last minute of injury time, the creator turned goalscorer as the man of the match, Benjamin Ibrahim (MR), sent in a cross for Hussain to volley it in. I guess this is a slight improvement compared to our last meeting against The Greens.

Full time and we qualified with a game to spare! Just to clarify, we've only just qualified from the Second Round to the Final Round. It's a long journey to reach World Cup 2022 in Australia.

If you enjoyed this entry,
you can follow the story by clicking the link below:
The Malaysia Experiment - Noisy Neighbors Part 2

If you missed out on any of my previous entries,
you can check them out below:

The Malaysia Experiment - Year in Review (2019) | Wrapping Up WCQ Group 4