Malaysia edge Bangladesh 2-1 in Regional Women's Tournament
Published on: Sunday, February 19, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: Malaysia edged Bangladesh 2-1 in their opening tie at the Regional Women's Development Tournament 2017 held at the Jalan Besar Stadium, Friday.Haindee Mosroh opened the scoring in the 45th minute with the second from Athirah Mamat in the 90th minute while their opponents scored deep into injury time.The Malaysian national team which featured mostly Sabah players will take on host Singapore in the triangular tournament to determine the winner on Saturday night.
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Head coach Asyraaf Fong Abdullah was pleased with the opening win and said his team started slow down due to strong wind in the stadium."The players were a bit nervous at the start and this was probably due to the windy condition in the stadium. They only started to play after I instructed them to keep the ball and play short passing game."The tactic seemed to work as we created a lot of chances but failed to find the target until Haindee Mosroh's strike towards the end of the half."
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According to him, the second half saw Bangladesh opted to play long ball."They changed their tactic in the second half by playing faster with long balls.
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However, my players managed to counter with more ball possession and were able to add the second goal."However, the Bangladeshis' persistent finally paid off when they scored their first goal in the competition deep into injury time."Asyraaf also praised 16-year-old Athirah Mamat and 17-year-old Nurul Azurin Mazlan for their impact on the team."Both these two players performed very well. Athirah with her first cap in the senior team managed to score while Nurul also had an outstanding game with several good saves, including a penalty to deny the opponent."He added the tournament is very good for him to fine-tune the team.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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