Heading right: Romel Morales (left) tussles for the ball with an Omani defender. - Photo by FAM
PETALING JAYA: The majority of Oman players have been involved in 13 league matches while the Malaysian boys will only play in their first in May when the Super League season starts.
And that made all the difference as a much fitter Oman defeated Harimau Malaya 2-0 in the World Cup 2026-Asian Cup 2027 second-round qualifiers at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex Stadium in Muscat, Oman yesterday.
Winger Issam Al-Sabhi scored the first goal in the 58th minute, while the second was scored by striker Muhsen Al-Ghassani in the 88th minute.
Head coach Kim Pan-gon knew their lack of match fitness was evident and took the defeat in his stride.
“I would like to congratulate Oman for producing a good and tough match. I would like to apologise to the Malaysian public because we could not win. We’re sorry,” said Pan-gon.
“It’s off-season for Malaysia, on-season for Oman. This is not usual and this circumstance was not helpful for us. I think it was tough for our players. We strategically failed because Oman had match fitness, while we did not.
“But this cannot be corrected. We cannot use it as an excuse either. We cannot change it.”
However, one cannot fault the effort of the boys as they showed a good fight. In fact, they were even left fuming when some decisions from referee Fu Ming from China went against them despite footage showing that Malaysia should have had them.
The first incident was in the 24th minute when winger Faisal Halim was pulled back by Abdul Aziz Al-Shamousi outside the penalty box, but the referee waved away his appeal.
Then in the 79th minute, substitute playmaker Paulo Josue thought he had the equaliser but the linesman said he was offside.
When Endrick dos Santos released the pass, Josue was in an offside position, but an Omani player went to block the pass and it inadvertently deflected towards the path of the 35-year-old and he duly obliged by putting it past the net.
According to the International Football Association Board (IFAB) laws, what the Omani player did was deliberate play, which means the offside rule is rendered useless in that situation.
Instead of lamenting, Pan-gon is eager to move forward and focus on the return fixture at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on March 26.
“I have no complaints about the players. The result was disappointing but I hope the people can understand the effort given by the boys. We must respect that.
“But home game will be different. Our game level is not what we had expected in Muscat but we will improve in the next. If we want to go to the next round, the next game, we have to earn at least a point.
“We have to challenge them. We must keep our hopes high. We have three games left. We have to be positive.”
The defeat sees Malaysia going down to third in the group, with first-placed Oman and second-placed Kyrgyzstan sharing the same points as Harimau Malaya but having a better goal difference.
