Thailand victory leaves Malaysia on the verge

Posted Friday, June 05, 2015 by

Thailand captain Sarach Yooyen scored the only goal of the game nine minutes from full-time.

After losing to Vietnam on Tuesday, 2009 and 2011 champions Malaysia were in desperate need for a victory to stay in contention to qualify for the last four from Group B.

The result means Thailand top the group with three victories from their three matches, but with Vietnam facing Laos later on the day, Ong Kim Swee's side could still drop down to second place on goal difference.

Malaysia are on three points from their three matches and would need to beat Brunei and Laos to stand a chance of qualifying for the play-offs.

The Young Tigers had the better of the play in the first half and Amirul Awang Kechik and Gary Robbat missed good chances to open the scoring.

After the break, War Elephants playmaker Chanathip Songkrasin seemed destined to create the first goal of the match when he dribbled through the Malaysia defense before setting up Nurul Sriyankem, but the chance was lost with an inaccurate header.

Just when it seemed the deadlock would remain, Yooyen gave Thailand all three points in the 81st minute with a left-footed strike from outside the penalty area.