Malaysia suffered another crushing blow to their confidence when they lost 3-1 to Vietnam in Hanoi on Sunday night in Dollah Salleh's final warm-up game before the AFF Suzuki Cup later this month.
Harimau Malaya continued their abysmal run of form, having suffered a 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Syria on Wednesday, with a humbling performance against Group A hosts Vietnam who made light work of the visitors at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi.
Things started brightly for Malaysia when Johor Darul Takzim's strike duo of Norshahrul Idlan Talaha and Amri Yahyah showed flashes of brilliance, with the latter opening the scoring in the 23rd minute to give the visitors the lead going into half-time. But, barely two minutes into the second period, Vietnam levelled the game with a superb strike by Mac Hong Quan.
Two minutes later, Dollah had to reshuffle his pack when defender Muslim Ahmad received a red card for pulling back Hong Quan and the writing was on the wall as the home team pounced on their numerical advantage to take the lead through a spot-kick from Nguyen Van Quyet.
Toshiya Miura's men continued to surge forward despite having the lead and the comeback was completed in the 81st minute when Ngo Hoang Thinh latched onto a rebound after goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi Che Mat parried the initial shot from Vo Huy Toan.
Dollah will now head back to the Football Association of Malaysia headquarters and mull over his final squad of 22 with plenty of problems to address.
The loss to Vietnam is his fourth loss in four matches since taking over as head coach in June and the former Pahang FA coach will have to thread carefully as a lacklustre campaign in the Suzuki Cup could prove to be the final blow to his long-term future with Harimau Malaya.
Vietnam: Tran Nguyen Manh, Qui Ngoc Hai, Dinh Tien Thanh, Le Phuoc Tu, Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Nguyen Huy Hung, Le Tan Tai, Vu Minh Tuan, Nguyen Van Quyet, Pham Thanh Luong, Nguyen Hai Anh.
Malaysia: Khairul Fahmi, Mahalli Jasuli, Muslim Ahmad, Afif Amiruddin, Zubir Azmi, Azamuddin Akil, Shukor Adan, Gary Robbat, S. Kunanlan, Amri Yahyah, Norshahrul Idlan Talaha.
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