After ninety plus minutes of sitting his bums at T-Cafe near the Giant Hypermarket mad redo1 finally went home a happy Malaysian. The reason? Malaysia just defeated defending champions Vietnam 2-0 in the first leg of the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup Championship semi-finals.
Photo taken from www.affsuzukicup.com
Two goals from Safee Salee in the second half ensured a comfortable lead for the second leg clash in Hanoi on Saturday. The most important outcome from the match was the clean sheet kept by the Malaysian defence, led by Mohamad Muslim Ahmad which managed to keep the visitors attack at bay and made the goalkeeper's job a lot easier.
K Rajagobal's men should expect a hostile and intimidating environment when they line-up at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi for the second leg. However, if they just ignore the environment and resist any provocation to throw off their game by the Vietnamese then they just need to play for a scoreless draw but that does not mean we have to adopt a defensive strategy.
One of the key objectives for the second leg is not to concede an early goal as this will motivate the home side to attack more and at the same time will plant seeds of doubts in the mind of Malaysian players. The longer the match go without a goal it will put more pressure on the home team and the crowd will get on their back, which will do us a huge favour.
Fortunately last night Vietnam goalkeeper Bui Tan Truong was in a generous mood by letting Safee's bullet header slip through his grasp in the 61st minute thus giving the home side the breakthrough. The Malaysians did not look back and went further ahead nine minutes from time when Safee pounced on a loose ball after Tan Truong could only parry a shot from Mohamad Safiq Rahim.
For many Malaysians it is certainly a victory to savour and certainly a lift for Malaysian football, especially after the opening day defeat to Indonesia. If Malaysia manage to get a positive result in Hanoi then a repeat of the meeting with the Indonesians will be on the cards as they are expected to get past the Phillippines in the second semi-final.
If Malaysia qualify for the final, the question where mad redo1 will seat his bums will be determined just before Christmas.
Come on Tigers!
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