PETALING JAYA: Damage control will be the order of the day when Malaysia take on Australia in their final Group A game of the AFF Women’s Championship in the Philippines today.
After the 4-0 drubbing by Thailand in their fourth group match on Sunday, coach Jacob Joseph said he is worried about his players’ fitness.
The Malayan Tigress were 1-0 down in the first-half, but capitulated in the second when they conceded three goals. The intensity was too much for the players to handle and some were seen with their heads down.
Thailand scored through Ploychompoo Somnuek (24th minute), Pattaranan Aupachai (54th), U-Raiporn Yongkul (73rd) and Nutwadee Pram-Nak (86th).
The odds are heavily stacked against Malaysia again when they face the Matildas and Jacob needs no reminder of that.
“I’m worried about the game against Australia. A few players are feeling down and I hope they can recover and pull up their socks quick. If we get a point, that will be good but realistically our approach will be damage control. It’s best that we play defensive,’’ he said.
“Against Thailand, we were too slow and were punished for it. There were tired legs and the fitness levels were down.’’
Malaysia have yet to register a win after drawing and losing twice. They drew 0-0 with Singapore and fought back to hold Indonesia 1-1. Before the Thailand loss, Malaysia went down to the Philippines 0-4.
The defeats, however, were expected as Thailand and the Philippines boast more quality. The Thais have featured in the World Cup in 2015 and 2018, while the Philippines have qualified for the 2023 edition in Australia.
Meanwhile, Thailand coach Miyo Okamoto said that despite some of the changes in her first XI, she was happy that the reserves were able to follow the game plan.
“Now, we look forward to facing the favourites, the Philippines. It will be an exciting game as they want to maintain their winning run while we’ll be fighting for the other semi-final spot.”
The Philippines are the first from the group to qualify for the semi-finals after collecting 12 points.
The second spot will be between Thailand and Australia, as the former are second with 10 points while the latter lie third with seven.
