Malaysia beat Nepal with late goals

Malaysian Under-23 football team hit two late goals to down the Nepal national team 2-0 in a friendly at the Petaling Jaya Stadium yesterday.

Lanky striker Izzaq Faris Ramlan opened the scoring for Malaysia in the 80th minute and Yong Kuong Yong added the second deep into the injury time.

 It was a morale-boosting win for Malaysia before heading to Hanoi tomorrow for the VFF Cup Under-23 tournament from Oct 19-23.

National Under-23 coach Ong Kim Swee was delighted with the team’s performance.

“Nepal played a very defensive game. They were defending with 10 men and it gave our players a chance to deal with a defensive team.

“In the SEA Games, we might be drawn with defensive teams like Cambodia and Laos,” said Kim Swee.

In the VFF Cup, Malaysia will play Vietnam, Myanmar and Uzbekistan in the round-robin tournament.

Meanwhile, the national team are scheduled to play South Asian champions India in two friendlies next month.

Malaysia will play the first match in Guwahati on Nov 13 and the second match will be played three days later in Kolkata.

Malaysia last played India in 2008. The friendly, held in Hyderabad, ended in a 1-1 draw.