The high flying Malaysia U-23 side outplayed Sri Lanka national team 2-0 to make Bangladesh’s equation to move to the semifinals easier in the Bangabandhu Gold Cup at the Sylhet District Stadium yesterday.
A draw on Monday’s last Group A match against Sri Lanka in Dhaka will be enough to see the hosts progress to the last-four while only a win can take the island nation to the knockout stage.
Sri Lanka head coach Nikola Kavazovic fielded an unusual formation of 3-1-4-2 and the Serbian also hinted to go unchanged against Bangladesh in the next game though he believes the hosts are in a better position to qualify for the semis.
“We know each other very well. Bangladesh know everything about us and we know about them. So there’s no secret,” he said adding, “They were prepared for this tournament while we were not prepared. Even if we give our best effort and they will go to semifinals with a draw. So they (Bangladesh) are in better position than us.”
The Lankans defended well in the first half but the dominating Malaysian force broke the shackles right at the stroke of half-time to take the lead.
Termed as ‘It was almost perfection’ by Nikola, the Malaysian young guns looked more composed and organised compared to their outing against Bangladesh. They threatened more and opened up more scoring chances once Sri Lanka looked to cancel the lead.
However, the lead could have come in the 36th minute but Lankan goalkeeper Sujan Perera made a stunning save to deny Mohammad Ridzuan’s low header from inside the box following a pin-pointed cross of Syahrul Azwari.
Sri Lanka were unlucky as their free-kick specialist N Rowshan’s curling attempt from 25 yards out hit the woodwork in the 41st minute and further misery was added to their fate when Syahrul Azwari converted successfully from the penalty spot for Malaysia inside the next five minutes.
Malaysia piled up more pressure as the lead was eventually doubled at the hour mark with Mohammad Ridzuan smashing home from the edge of six-yard box following a corner from the right. A decent save from Perera in a one-on-one situation against Muhamad Faizat ensured Sri Lanka concede no more in the game where Malaysia could have scored at least two more.
