Foul!

It was an ending football fans had hoped for. Malaysia defeated Myanmar 2-0 in the Merdeka Cup final in front of a packed stadium. Striker Rozaimi Abdul Rahman and midfielder Junior Eldstal scored in the 28th and 94th minutes respectively to win the tournament for the 10th time since its inception in 1957, as reported by The Star today. The victory was a perfect Malaysia Day gift. This could be a sneak peak of the Sea Games final. Myanmar will be training from now till December in a bid to snatch the title from defending champions Malaysia. Myanmar are bent on winning the football title. Malaysia, meanwhile, are set to defend their title for the third consecutive time - having won in Laos 2009 and Indonesia 2011. Nevertheless, the question we need to ask ourselves - are we solely setting our sights for the Sea Games? How long more do we need before we start thinking beyond the South East Asian region? Have we turned into a contented lot? Pic by Hasriyasyah Sabudin (NS...

The National Under-23 boys got off to a dream start in the Merdeka Tournament after defeating 10-man Singapore 1-0 in the opening game at the Darul Makmur Stadium on Saturday night. Ong Kim Swee’s men came alive in the second half with A. Thamil Arasu netting the winner 30 seconds into the second half. Malaysia could have doubled their lead but winger Wan Zack Haikal Wan Nor snuffed a spot kick after Singapore’s Mohd Afiq Yunos was red-carded for using his hands to deny Junior Edlstal’s goal-bound header in the 54th minute. The heavy downpour an hour before the kick-off and the drizzle after that left the pitch water-logged and made play difficult for both teams. Read the full report by K. Rajan here . Meanwhile, Myanmar and Thailand settled for a 1-1 draw in the other match yesterday, as reported here . Pic by Bernama HD says: Good start for Ong Kim Swee's lads.

It has been rather 'interesting' reading several comments on Twitter on how certain folks are defending the fact Thailand has sent a team comprising of mainly lower division league players. Sadly none spoke about the need of  teams respecting tournaments. It reminds one of the Monomotapa United FC fiasco in 2009. A team of more than 20-odd players form ONE particular club donned the national jersey and played K.Rajagobal's squad. When pressed for answers, the then FA of Malaysia general secretary was not amused, as he produced a letter by the Zimbabwe FA, signed off by its chief executive officer Henritta Rushwaya, insisting the African side is the national team. When Rushwaya was booked for several offences including her involvement in match-fixing including the match against Malaysia, FAM then quickly changed its tune by saying; "oh but how can we question a fellow FA." It must be stressed that this is in NO implying the Thai team in Kuantan is anything l...

The list of players of the Thailand team competing in the Merdeka Cup revealed 16 players are from Narathiwat FC. Kelantan were supposed to play Narathiwat but were told the Thai team will be playing in a "perlawanan empat penjuru" in Kuantan. Instead, Kelantan will play Yala FC on Sept 10. The coach accompanying the Thai team - with players ranging from the ages of 20 to 31 - is the assistant coach of the nation's Under-23 team. But Thailand FA insists the Thai team in Kuantan is representing the nation, as published in Mailsport today. For the record, Singapore, Myanmar and hosts Malaysia will be fielding their Under-23 squads. Meanwhile, Harimau Muda A coach Ong Kim Swee is expecting a stiff competition as his lads take on the Singapore Under-23 team in the curtain raiser tomorrow (kick off 5.30pm Darulaman Stadium). "People may say we have been training together overseas but you must understand a large number of the Singaporean players have been play...