KUALA LUMPUR: The national women’s football team staged a fightback to hold Indonesia 1-1 at the 2022 Asean Football Federation (AFF) Women’s Championship in the Philippines.
In the Group A action at the Binan Stadium, captain and defender Steffi Sarge Kaur came to the rescue after scoring the equaliser in added time of the second half to give the Malayan Tigress a valuable point.
Indonesia went ahead through Sheva Imut Furyzcha’s 74th-minute goal after both teams failed to find the net in the first half.
The result saw Jacob Joseph’s squad once again settling for a point after playing to a draw against Singapore in the opening match last Monday.
The Malaysians are currently in third place behind leaders the Philippines and second placed Thailand.
The Philippines have six points after maintaining their unbeaten record with a 7-0 thrashing of Singapore while Thailand collected four points after a 2-2 draw against Australia’s Under-23 squad on Wednesday.
The 2-2 draw allowed the Australian U-23 squad to move up one rung to fourth place while Indonesia (fifth) and Singapore fell to the bottom with all three teams sharing one point after two matches.
Malaysia have a tough task to pick up more points as they face the fancied hosts today. Their other matches will be against Thailand on Sunday and the Australian U-23 squad on Tuesday.
In the 2019 edition Malaysia failed to advance to the knockout round after finishing third in the group stage with two wins from four matches.
Their best achievement in the competition was in 2007 when Malaysia advanced to the semi-finals. — Bernama
