Malaysia's 2-1 home defeat to Vietnam in the semifinals of the AFF Suzuki Cup was their worst performance of the tournament, according to head coach Dollah Salleh. The result leaves Harimau Malaya in a perilous position as they look to win through to their second final in three tournaments.
The 2010 champions need to score a minimum of two goals in Hanoi onThursday to have any chance of advancing to the finals on Dec. 17 and 20.
"I consider this our worst performance especially in attacking and defence," Dollah told www.affsuzukicup.com. "I do not know what happened to the players but we still have 90 minutes in Hanoi and in football, anything can happen."
The former Pahang FA manager said that said that a mistake by defender Mahali Jasuli in the second half had proved costly as Malaysia let slip a 1-0 lead. But he gave praised to the performance of Vietnam who had topped the Hanoi-based Group A.
"Today, they [Vietnam] were much better compared to our previous defeat to them and we were lucky that they did not score more goals," Dollah said.
The Vietnamese are in a commanding position having scored two away goals, but head coach Toshiya Miura warned that the tie was far from over. "For me, a slim win against Malaysia does not guarantee a final spot for us as we must work harder against our opponent in the return leg at our home ground," Miura said.
Vietnam skipper Le Cong Vinh added: "I'm also quite happy with my teammates who showed a lot of effort for us to clinch an important win but we must remember that Malaysia are not an easy opponent, so we must be cautious when facing them in the return leg."
The other semifinal second leg will be played on Wednesday in Bangkok between Thailand and Philippines. The first leg ended in a goalless draw in Manila on Saturday.