PETALING JAYA: It just was not Malaysia’s night.
National striker Darren Lok was a picture of disappointment after the 0-2 defeat by Oman in the World Cup 2026-Asian Cup 2027 second-round qualifier at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Tuesday.
Instead of lamenting the lack of match fitness and poor pitch conditions, he just said the night did not belong to them.
“We can’t go on with the excuses like the pitch was not right or the timing of the league could have been better. Tonight was not our night at all,” said the 33-year-old Sabah player.
“It’s not easy with international football because you now return to your clubs and will not be meeting your international mates for quite a while.
“We now want to work hard to put it right. How do we do it? We will work on our fitness with the respective clubs and put things right again.”
His teammate and midfielder Stuart Wilkin said his mates gave their best but opponents Oman set up well and didn’t give many chances to Harimau Malaya.
“We’ve got to regroup and wake up from here. We need to win these two games against Kyrgyzstan and Taiwan In June. The defeat against Oman, it’s tough to take,” said the 26-year-old, who also plays for Sabah in the Super League.
“We tried to get more crosses into the box to get more attacking opportunities but credit to the Oman goalkeeper who made himself big with his saves and sound catches.
“Our decision making could have been better as well. Some decisions can make or break games. We will learn from this defeat.”
Malaysia will complete their second-round qualifiers campaign by taking on Kyrgyzstan (June 6) in Bishkek and Taiwan (June 11) in Kuala Lumpur.
