Surprise on the opening day of the AFF Cup: Cambodia attacked ‘fiery’, holding back the giant Malaysia

The encounter between the Cambodian team and Malaysia is the first match of the AFF Cup 2024. Before this match, the Malaysian team was the one who was rated higher, winning all the games and scoring 18 goals in the last 6 clashes. More broadly, the Malaysian team is also undefeated against Cambodia in the past 54 years. The last time the “Malay Tigers” lost a match to Cambodia was in the 1970 AFC Asian Cup. At that time, the Cambodian team defeated Malaysia 3-2.

However, the determination of the Cambodian team is very high. In addition to the cheers of home fans, Cambodia launched a team of naturalized players including Yudai Ogawa (Japan), Coulibaly (Ivory Coast), Mohammed Faeez Khan (South Africa)… In addition, Sieng Chanthea also plays in attack. is in high form.

With better strength, Malaysia was the team that played better in the first half. Endrick – a player playing for Ho Chi Minh City Club – was placed in the center position by coach Pau Martí and played brightly. He continuously moved widely, helping the Malaysian team have many dangerous attack situations. In the 9th and 28th minutes, the striker wearing the number 10 shirt of the Malaysian team had two dangerous kicks, which Cambodia goalkeeper Vireak Dara struggled to block.

However, Endrick did not need to regret for too long because the Malaysian team also found the opening score in the first half. In the 35th minute, Daniel Ting smartly escaped on the left wing and crossed the ball accurately, creating conditions for Wilkin to fly. The person who headed the ball into the net for Cambodia.

After leading 1-0, the Malaysian team continued to attack, having another dangerous opportunity in the 40th minute from Paulo Josue’s header. Notably, the player who opened this attack situation for Malaysia was still Endrick.

On the opposite side, the Cambodian team played hard in the first half. Between the 10th and 30th minute, the home team increased the pressure and had a number of scoring opportunities. However, Cambodia’s offensive combination was still not good and coach Gyotoku Koji’s team could not penetrate Malaysia’s net.

In the second half, the Cambodian team suddenly played excitedly, pushing the team to attack. In just 7 minutes, Cambodia scored 2 consecutive goals to lead Malaysia 2-1. In the 53rd minute, Kim Sokyuth took advantage of a mistake by the Malaysian defense and assisted naturalized striker Coulibaly to bring the match back to the starting line. In the 60th minute, Sa Ty – a player who had just been on the field for 3 minutes – made the Olympic Stadium stadium explode with an easy kick, raising the score to 2-1.

Suddenly receiving two painful blows, coach Pau Martí was forced to change tactics, sending attacking players like Fergus Tierney, Ezequiel Agüero or Darren Lok onto the field. In the 74th minute, Fergus Tierney fired a nasty shot from outside the penalty area, helping Malaysia equalize the score at 2-2.

About the last 10 minutes of the match, both Malaysia and Cambodia played a double attack to find more goals. Malaysia is the team that controls the ball better (55%) and has 2 more dangerous shots. However, the away team’s strikers were all wasteful and accepted to split the points on the opening day with a 2-2 draw.