Foul!

As published in today's Mailsport Reports by Vijhay Vick vijhay@mmail.com.my SINGAPORE - Mahali Jasuli hopes to end Malaysia's jinx when they play Myanmar today.  “We need a positive start. If we drop points it could cause us problem when we face Thailand and Singapore, who are the favourites to reach the semis,” said Mahali, who is aware  Malaysia lost their last two opening matches in the AFF Cup in 2010 and 2012.  “A win over be the perfect booster after poor results in our recent matches. It will ease some pressure as well." Mahali would likely start at rightback as Dollah Salleh's preferred choice Aidil Zafuan Abdul Radzak was left out due to injuries. Mahali also stressed they must not let the poor preparations affect them. Harimau Malaya only have one win - 4-1 over lowly Cambodia - from five preparation matches since August. They lost to Tajikistan (4-1), Indonesia (2-0), Syria (3-0) and Vietnam (3-1). “Our results i...

Those were the words of national coach K.Rajagobal right after Malaysia lost 3-0 to Singapore in the AFF Cup last night. Rajagobal was clearly dumbfounded with the scoreline but defended his players despite their rather poor performance on the field. Singapore skipper Shahril Ishak scored a brace while 'veteran' Aleksander Duric scored the final goal of the night as the national lads were left in tatters. "To be honest, a draw would have been a fair result. Yes, Khairul (Fahmi Che Mat) made a mistake..everyone makes mistakes. The team came back in the second half but we didn't score," said Rajagobal. Earlier, Rajagobal praised Norshahrul Idlan Talaha, saying the Kelantan player played a "good game". "We started positively but our play was marred by sloppy defending." At the last edition, Malaysia were whacked 5-1 in the opening match against Indonesia but bounced back to win the tournament. When asked if the same could happen agai...