DOHA – The country’s top striker Mohamad Faisal Abdul Halim was the only Malaysia player listed in the best 11 of the 2023 Asian Cup competition after the third group matches ended, here yesterday.
Faisal who scored one of Harimau Malaya’s equalisers in the sensational 3-3 draw against South Korea in their final Group E match yesterday at the Al Janoub Stadium, here, had also placed himself among the top three strikers in the Asian Football Confederation top choice of players.
The 26-year-old Selangor FC striker’s goal was also the first scored in the country’s 2023 Asian Cup campaign.
Apart from Faisal, others on the list of strikers are Iraq’s Aymen Hussein – the current leading top scorer in the tournament with five goals, and Japan’s Ayase Ueda who has three goals under his belt.
Thailand’s goalkeeper Saranon Anuin earned the credit of being the person in charge between the posts while the best defenders named in the list are Palestine skipper Mus’ab Al Battat, Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah Al Khaibari and Farruh Sayfiyev from Uzbekistan.
Four players picked to handle the engine room of the team were South Korea’s Lee Kang-in, Parvizdzhon Umarbayev (Tajikistan), Mehdi Taremi (Iran) and Iraq’s Ali Jassim.
Malaysia, under South Korean coach Kim Pan-gon, failed to qualify for the round of 16 after finishing at the bottom of Group E with one point behind South Korea, Jordan and Bahrain – losing 0-4 to Jordan and 0-1 to Bahrain before the 3-3 draw against South Korea.
Malaysia featured in the Asian Cup for the fourth time after participating in the 1976 edition hosted by Iran in 1980 in Kuwait, and when playing as host in 2007. – January 26, 2024