Without naturalized stars, Malaysia still beat Laos 3-0

On the evening of October 9, in the third match of Group F, Round 3 of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers, Malaysia traveled to Laos's home field and returned with a score of 3-0, despite the absence of key naturalized players.

Malaysia (yellow shirt) had a not-so-impressive victory over Laos - Photo: MALAYSIA NT

Malaysia is facing a crisis as seven naturalized stars have been banned from playing due to fake documents. They even face the risk of losing matches in which these players participate.

Despite that shock, Malaysia still had to travel to Laos to continue the 2027 Asian Cup qualifying matches. Coach Peter Cklamovski still had more than 10 naturalized players, who had been with the team for many years and had no paperwork problems.

The level of this group is still far lower than the banned group. However, Malaysia is still rated highly compared to Laos, one of the weakest teams in Southeast Asia. There are even many opinions that coach Cklamovski's team will win big.

But then the Malaysian strikers played unconvincingly. They were not sharp enough to put the ball in the net, despite having many clear chances. That weakness comes from the lack of quality strikers.

Previously in the match against Vietnam, the expensive naturalized stars did very well in scoring goals against the Vietnamese team.

Another reason was the poor pitch, which caused Malaysia to make several mistakes. It wasn’t until the 53rd minute that the opening goal came from individual effort. On the edge of the penalty area, Arif Aiman ​​made a technical breakthrough and then fired a dangerous cross-angle shot into the Laos net.

In the 68th minute, Dion Cools finished after a favorable pass from Corbin Ong to increase the score to 2-0. The remaining minutes of the match continued to witness suffocating pressure from Malaysia.

They showed their determination to bring home a big win, but still could not convert their chances. It was not until the 90+8 minute that Faisal Halim was able to seal a 3-0 victory.

This score can be considered disappointing for coach Cklamovski's team, when they were expected to score more goals. With the pressure created, this number of goals is too small.

Malaysia temporarily continues to top Group F with 9 points after 3 wins, and is still above the Vietnamese team.

DUC KHUE

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/vang-dan-sao-nhap-tich-malaysia-van-ha-lao-3-0-20251009211640962.htm