Malaysia get thrashed by Australia

Australia stamped their class to give Malaysia a lesson in football with a 5-0 thrashing at the Canberra Stadium yesterday.

The Socceroos made short work of the visitors from the starting whistle before they raced to a comfortable 4-0 lead in the first-half. Luke Wilkshire opened accounts as early in the third minute before Alex Brosque (39th, 69th) and Joshua Kennedy (33rd, 45th) added a brace each in the one-sided encounter.

National coach Datuk K. Rajagopal had eight players from the winning team of the Suzuki Cup Asean Football Federation (AFF) championships in the starting line-up but his men were barely any threat to the technically superior and physically stronger opponents. In fact, they were lucky not to have trooped off with a “double-digit” thrashing if not for the home team’s numerous misses in front of goal.

The Malaysian back-line’s lack of experience stood out like a sore thumb as the Aussies ripped apart the defence with their neat short-passing game.

The defence, which comprised of seasoned campaigner Norhafiz Zamani Misbah, Mohd Muslim Ahmad (centre-backs), Mahalli Jasuli (right-back) and Mohd Asraruddin Putra Omar (left-back) were in shambles.

It was a pathetic performance to watch them go down so tamely and often made to chase after their own shadows.

Goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi Che Mat could not do much with the Australians wresting total command by winning the battle in the engine room and toying around with the Malaysian defence for most of the game. All the five goals came off sloppy defending, including the opening goal, which Wilkshire, the Dinamo Moscow midfielder, tapping the ball into an open goal in the third minute.

All the goals scored in the first-half came from inside the box except for the last goal by Brosque, which Khairul beaten by a stinging left-footer from outside the box in the 69th minute.
Midfielder Joseph Kallang Tie was the only rookie in the starting line-up partnering Amar Rohidan in the centre of the field.

The friendly match was televised live and Malaysians would have seen how pathetic our football standard is. Malaysia are ranked 147 in the FIFA world standings compared to the Aussies, who are 19th, but the way the homesters make our team look like a school outfit is surely not easy to stomach.

For the record, Malaysia’s last thrashing was against UAE (0-5) in the qualifying rounds for the Asian Cup in K. Lumpur in 2009.

Strikers Mohd Safee Sali, who went for trials with English Division Two outfit Cardiff City last month had only one shot at goal but his shot went wide across the goalmouth while Norsharul Idlan Talaha was barely a threat to the Aussie defence.

Second-half substitute Wan Zaharulnizam Wan Zakaria made a significant change with his nippy runs down the flanks. Overall, it is a good lesson learnt for the Malaysians.