Danial Amier Norhisham sealed a 1-0 win for Malaysia over Saudi Arabia in their final Group C match of the AFC U23 Championship 2018 yesterday as Ong Kim Swee’s side claimed a place in the quarter-finals.
Danial’s 29th minute strike was enough to earn Malaysia their first win of the tournament and take them into the last eight in second place in the group, behind winners Iraq, and ahead of Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Malaysia were forced into a determined rear-guard action throughout the final stages of the game as the Saudis chased the draw they needed to progress, but they could not find a way past the battling Southeast Asians.
The Saudis had started on the front foot, with Fahad al-Rashidi hitting the crossbar with barely two minutes on the clock with an in-swinging free kick while Jaber Asiri threatened with a header just after the quarter hour mark.
Much of the play was taking place in the Malaysian half of the field, with Ong’s side pegged back by a Saudi side desperate to secure the win needed to advance to the quarter-finals.
But their inability to turn their dominance into something tangible was punished just before the half hour when Malaysia took the lead through Danial, who swung his left foot through the ball from the edge of the area to leave Amin Al Bukhari grasping at air.
Saudi’s best chance of the half came with just a minute remaining when Abdulelah al-Amri charged forward from his position at the half of defence before releasing Abdullah Al Joui, but his attempt to beat Haziq Nadzli at his near post was pushed to safety.
Malaysia will play the Group D winners in the quarter-finals on Saturday.
In Group C, Bashar Resan scored the only goal of the game as Iraq handed Jordan a 1-0 defeat to secure their place in the quarter-finals as winners of the group.
Malaysian players celebrate their victory over Saudi Arabia in their final Group C match in the AFC U23 Championship yesterday.
