Monday, December 7, 2009

More from the night

The Cambodia team try to organize themselves for a pre-match photo
Rounding up last night's activities at the National Stadium, where Cambodia beat East Timor 4-1 and Vietnam defeated an unhappy Malaysia 3-1. I didn't manage to catch any of the Malaysian antics on camera as they chased and surrounded the referee at the final whistle but I did see one of the Malaysian players throw a full water bottle at the 4th official when he wasn't looking. Very cowardly. All of the goals were scored in the first half and all of them by Vietnam players. Their slick passing and movement undid Malaysia with goals from Phan Thanh Binh, Mai Tien Thanh and Trong Hoang, whilst Vo Hoang Quang headed a beauty of an own goal. I'm not sure why the Malaysian players objected to the referee but he did book 5 of their players and sent off Razak Zaquan in the last minute. At the time of typing this I'm not sure if Malaysia will receive any punishment for spitting their dummy out but it was all pretty disgraceful nonetheless.
The Cambodian flag in person and on the scoreboard
Pre-match pictures: Scott O'Donell and team manager Vann Ly
Pre-match warm up routines for the Cambodian players
This is a bit like two-step training
Flexing their leg muscles before kick off
Vietnam's captain and playmaker Pham Thanh Luong
Mai Tien Thanh scored a hat-trick against Timor and 1 more v Malaysia
The Malaysian coach, K Rajagopal outside the Games Village
Vietnam's first goal against Malaysia was a twice-taken penalty by Phan Thanh Binh

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posted by Andy Brouwer at 10:59 PM

1 Comments:

Blogger Andy Brouwer said...

Here's an extract from a match report in the New Straits Times of Malaysia's bad-tempered defeat against Vietnam.

[extract] Zaquan several times challenged the referee to a fight while skipper Aidil Zafuan Radzak and Safiq Rahim, a ticking time bomb since the penalty, both appeared to manhandle Jong-hyeok. Laos police immediately surrounded the referee as coach K. Rajagobal tried to calm his players before the team were ushered off the pitch by security officials.

Rajagobal apologised for his players' reaction and put the blame for the fiasco firmly on referee Jong-hyeok. "The free-for-all started when Zaquan was sent off as emotions were running high after some controversial decisions against us which I think must be reviewed by video," said Rajagobal after the match.

"I told the players they should not have done that which was why I ran to the pitch to defuse the situation. I could have said something to the referee myself but I apologised to him. These are young players and they are very emotional, two of them were crying after the game but the referee's decisions frustrated the players especially the penalty which caused them to lose concentration." [end]

Simply not good enough from the team or the coach. The players were a disgrace and I couldn't care two figs if two of them are crying. They should grow up and stop acting like spoiled brats. It is too easy to blame the officials when you lose and Malaysia have sunk to that level.
For the game against Cambodia today, the player who was red carded has been suspended for two games and their goalkeeper for 1 game.

The after match antics had a knock on effect yesterday at the Laos v Indonesia game. A melee near the touchline late in the game saw at last 6 uniformed policemen run full pelt onto the pitch and into the melee. It was a total over- reaction by the police, who had absolutely no right to be on the pitch. The referee is in charge on the pitch and no-one should enter the playing area unless he calls them on. But in countries like this, the police and army are effectively in charge so they have the right to do anything they wish. I hope we don't see any more incidents of this nature. With the police involved, it could easily has escalated into a VERY serious incident.

December 8, 2009 11:25 AM  

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