Bernama pic.
PETALING JAYA: A less-than-roaring display at the home ground.
Malaysia suffered their second straight defeat to Oman when they lost to the West Asian nation 0-2 in the return fixture of the World Cup 2026-Asian Cup 2027 second-round qualifier at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Tuesday (March 26).
In the previous fixture, Malaysia also lost to Oman 0-2 in Muscat, Oman last week.
Harimau Malaya should have had the lead as early as the first minute when winger Arif Aiman Hanapi stole the ball from an Omani wingback Ahmed Al-Khamisi and made a surge towards the penalty box but his shot was smothered by goalkeeper Ibrahim Al-Mukhaini.
The visitors took the lead in the dying minutes of the first-half when striker Omar Al-Malki buried a penalty past Malaysian goalkeeper Ahmad Syihan Hazmi.
In the second half, coach Kim Pan-gon brought on Brendan Gan and Endrick dos Santos for Darren Lok and Syamer Kutty Abba respectively as he looked to fortify the midfield.
It worked as the home side created chances by Oman’s goalkeeper Al-Mukhaini proved too strong in his goal.
Oman eventually got their second in the dying minutes of the second half when Mubarak Al-Ghafri scored an easy goal past Syihan.
Not only the result didn't favour Malaysia but the field did not help matters despite assurance from the Malaysian Stadium Board.
There were still heavy patches on the field and it saw two players, Malaysian rightback Azam Azmi Murad and Al-Malki leaving the game injured due to the poor conditions of the pitch.
The win sees Oman topping the group with nine points, while Malaysia remain third with six.
In June, Malaysia will complete their second-round qualifiers campaign by taking on Kyrgyzstan (June 6) in Bishkek and Taiwan (June 11) in Kuala Lumpur.
