Missing home: Romel Morales (left) and Paulo Josue posing before boarding the flight back to Kuala Lumpur from Oman.
PETALING JAYA: It’s not wishful thinking. Some of the wounded Tigers in Kim Pan-gon’s Harimau Malaya team believe they can bite back and take down Oman in their return fixture of the World Cup 2026-Asian Cup 2027 second-round qualifier at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Tuesday after suffering a 2-0 loss in Muscat.
With the defeat, Malaysia have dropped to third in Group D. They share the same points as Oman (first) and Kyrgyzstan (second) but are behind on goal difference.
Malaysia’s naturalised Colombian Romel Morales, who played as a target man in Oman, feels that they did not deserve to lose the away match on Thursday.
“We showed that we can compete against Oman as we matched them on and off the ball, and we pressed them hard,’’ said the Johor Darul Ta’zim striker.
“We can be proud of our performance even though we lost. After they took the lead, they just defended as we controlled the match.
Pressing hard: Romel Morales in action against Oman on Thursday. — FAM
“Unfortunately, our final touch let us down. But we take that as a lesson learned and what’s important is that we’ll be going into the second game with a positive attitude and the belief that we can win it.’’
As for midfielder Stuart Wilkin, he said it was disappointing to lose the game after they resolutely kept Oman at bay in the first half.
“We’ll be looking at this game again to see where we went wrong and we’ll be better prepared for the return match,’’ said the 26-year-old Wilkin, who plays for Sabah.
Stuart also urged his teammates to be bolder in their bid to get full points at the National Stadium and try to get into the final round of the qualifiers.
“We don’t have to be too respectful of Oman as we’ve shown we can take the game to them. We should be confident about getting a result at home.’’
