A Nation's...

...Hope

After a bad start to their AFF Suzuki Cup 2010 campaign, many Malaysians felt that it is going to be the same old story for the Malaysian national team, albeit with a new man at the helm. However, coach K Rajagobal rallied his men and after holding the much fancied Thailand to a scoreless draw they thrashed Laos 5-1 to sneaked into the last four after the result of the match between host Indonesia and the Thais went our way.

Thus tonight Malaysia will face defending champions Vietnam at the Nasional Stadium in the first leg of their semi-final clash with the second leg scheduled to take place on Saturday in Hanoi on Saturday.

Going into the match Malaysia players should not put themselves under too much pressure as the Vietnamese are the favourites, being the defending champions of the competition.

Rajagobal's men have gone from strength to strength in the competition and for many Malaysians who will fill the Nasional Stadium's seats a fighting display by the players will win their hearts regardless of the result.

Recent results against the Vietnamese have not been encouraging but all those are in the past and tonight it is going to be a new ballgame altogether. Thus the confidence that the squad has right now should be used o the fullest and with the backing of a good crowd at the Nasional Stadium, Malaysia should get a good result for their second leg encounter on Saturday.

As a Ganuan, mad redo1 would like to see Sharbinee Allawee back between the posts for Malaysia as his performance against Indonesia was top class despite conceding five goals. Rajagobal should have stood by the custodian instead of giving the spot to Khairul Fahmi whose performance against Thailand and Laos were decent but nothing much to shout about.

But irrespective of which player going to start against Vietnam tonight the support of mad redo1 and almost all Malaysians will be with the Tigers in the first quest to be in the final for the first time since the inaugural tournament in 1996 in Singapore when they lost to Thailand.

Good luck Tigers!


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