Malaysia win, RI to play Thailand
Malaysia win, RI to play Thailand
Associated Press, Bacolod City
Two goals each by Rudie Ramli and Surendren Rasiah gave Malaysia a 4-2 win Tuesday over the Philippines in an ill- tempered soccer match.
The loss ended the host's chances of advancing to the medal round for the first time. Malaysia plays Vietnam while Thailand takes on Indonesia in the semifinals on Friday.
Thailand defeated Cambodia 1-0 on Tuesday in the other Group A match.
Malaysian coach Norizan Bakar's game plan appeared simple - keep playmaker James Younghusband, from English Premier League champions Chelsea, out of the game.
His younger brother and clubmate Philip Younghusband was also given little room to maneuver early on, which clearly upset the second-tier Chelsea players.
"I just kept getting fouled," said James Younghusband. "The referee did nothing. How could that happen?"
S. Sathia Kumaran and Ronny Harun took turns marking the 19- year-old midfielder, and he was visibly upset at the lack of calls for a number of niggling fouls on the pitch.
A pinpoint cross from Azi Shahril found Ramli in the 19th minute, and the striker rose to head past a sprawling Louie Casas in the Philippine goal.
The Philippines were reduced to 10 men early in the first half, after Peter Jaugan was given two yellow cards. But the setback appeared to galvanize coach Jose Ariston Caslib's players.
Philip Younghusband pounced on a deflected shot from strike- mate Chad Gould to head past Malaysian keeper Saiful Amar in the 33rd minute to keep scores level going into the break.
And before a capacity crowd of 15,000 at the Panaad Stadium, the home side took the lead a minute after the restart.
Philip Younghusband leapt high to meet a free kick sent in by his elder brother into the bottom left corner.
Surendran scored his first from a penalty in the 60th minute, and added another 10 minutes later after he beat the offside trap and sent a volley past a bewildered Casas from the right just as he entered the box.
Casas then bungled a clearance for Ramli to head into goal in the 86th minute.
"Our national team are not used to leading 1-up, we have to understand how to manage time," said Caslib. "(But) if we want to see good matches, the standard of refereeing has to go up at the Southeast Asia Games."