SINGAPORE: Malaysia head coach Dollah Salleh does not want to write-off his boys’ chances of making it to the semi-finals of the AFF Suzuki Cup 2014 football tournament.
He instead is confident that they will make it to the semifinals of the biennial tournament by defeating defending champions Singapore in their last Group B fixture at the National Stadium, Singapore Sports Hub tomorrow.
“We are still not finished yet as we have another match. If the boys put up a similar performance as what they had shown today, God willing, we should have no problems (to secure a semi-finals spot),” Dollah said.
He told this to reporters after Malaysia’s 2-3 defeat to Thailand in the second group match at the Jalan Besar Stadium on Wednesday.
Dollah noted that he did not want to blame any of his players as they had given their best shot against the ‘War Elephants’ squad coached by their former international, Kiatisuk Senamuang.
“We did a superb performance today and I’m happy with the way my boys played especially (veteran striker), Mohd Safee (Mohd Sali) who played quite well,” he said while admitting a last-minute lapse was the main factor why they lost to Thailand.
Meanwhile, Kiatisuk said the match against Malaysia was quite tougher compared their 2-1 narrow win against Singapore in the opening encounter at the National Stadium on last Sunday.
The 41-year old coach whose is fondly known as ‘Zico’ for his style of play during his glory days with Thailand, praised his players for their brilliant performance against Malaysia even though they were trailing twice.
“It was a fantastic game. I would like to thank our fans as well as the players who played at their best to win this exciting match and not forgetting coach Dollah who nurtured his players very well.
“For me, it was not an easy game such as in the first half of the match when my boys found it very difficult to penetrate Malaysia’s defence,” he said, adding that he hoped his boys would to continue their winning ways in the last group fixture against Myanmar at the Jalan Besar Stadium tomorrow. — Bernama