Take cover: Hadi Fayyadh Abdul Razak shielding the ball from Thailand’s Nicholas Mickelsen. — FAM
PETALING JAYA: The heat is on Brad Maloney after Malaysia’s poor outing in the AFC Under-23 Asian Cup.
Will the Australian get to keep his job or will his head roll?
The question will be answered soon as many are unable to accept his boys’ humiliating 0-3 defeat to Thailand at the Miliiy Stadium in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on Sunday.
Thailand’s goals were scored by wonderkid Suphanat Muenta (22nd and 72nd minutes) and winger Channarong Promsrikaew (68th).
The Harimau Muda have now been booted out of the competition, having also lost to South Korea 1-4 in the group.
In both matches, Malaysia were tactically outmatched.
The same team also failed to make any headway in the Vietnam SEA Games last month.
And the pressure is mounting on the Australian as fans on social media have vented out their frustration.
Some have even asked him to resign, citing that the team would only further regress under his leadership.
When asked about his future, Maloney said: “It hasn’t crossed my mind. I will discuss it with the management once we get back.”
As for the team’s outing against the War Elephants, coached by former Kelantan striker Worawoot Srimaka, Maloney admitted that his boys were not good enough.
“At the end of the day, we just weren’t good enough. I thought that we controlled the game in the first 20 minutes.
“In the 22nd minute, we conceded the first goal and never got into the game after that. Extremely disappointed. The Thais deserved the result.”
Only the likes of centreback Harith Haiqal Adam Afkar and midfielder Mukhairi Ajmal Mahadi were the standouts for the Malaysians while the others showed a lack of technical abilities to match their opponents.
Captain Mukhairi said Malaysia had given their best but admitted that they would have to make lots of improvements to close the gap with the top Asian nations.
“We have to be focused but in some moments in the game against Thailand, we were lackadaisical, it is our own doing.”
The last game of the group for Malaysia is against Vietnam at the Lokomotiv Stadium on June 8 and they will be out to restore some pride.
“We hope we can move on and play a much better game against Vietnam. We want to leave with some pride. I just hope the boys can bounce back,” said Mukhairi.
In their first Cup outing four years ago, Malaysia reached the quarter-finals before they were beaten 1-2 by South Korea.
A win against Vietnam would salvage some pride but the youngsters will have to be prepared for scrutiny when they return home after another failed attempt to be among the best in Asia.
