KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia ended their championship drought when they emerged as the champions of the Below 19 (B-19) ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Cup for the first time in Surabaya, Indonesia Saturday night.
The young national squad which emerged as the runner-up for five times, eventually lifted the championship trophy after beating Myanmar 4-3 in the dramatic final at the Stadium Gelora Delta Sidoarjo, East Jawa. For the record, Malaysia merely emerged as the runners-up in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2017.
In the match in Surabaya, the young national squad managed by Bojan Hodak led 2-0 from goals scored by Awang Muhammad Faiz Hazziq as early as in the third minute and Nik Akif Syahiran Nik Mat in the 18th minute. Myanmar, however, managed to equalise 2-2 following two quick goals scored by Win Naing Tun in the 23rd and 26th minutes before leading the game through the goal scored by Myat Kaung Khant in the 31st minute and maintained the score until the end of the first half.
As soon as the second half began, Malaysia launched repeated attacks on the Myanmar goal area which eventually resulted in Shivan Pillay Asokan finding the equaliser in the 75th minute to make it 3-3. Nik Akif Syahiran emerged as the hero of the young national squad when he found the opponents’ goalmouth in the 90th minute which ended Malaysia’s wait to emerge as champions since 2002 when the championship was organised jointly by Thailand and Cambodia. – Bernama
