Al Rayyan: Harimau Malaya’s injury-time goal ended Malaysia’s dream of advancing to the second round of the 2023 Asian Cup as they lost 1-0 to Bahrain in the second Group E match at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium. It collapsed.

Malaysia may not be able to afford another loss after losing 4-0 to Jordan on Monday, and will finish this week against two-time champions South Korea on Thursday.

Malaysia’s starting eleven, which will face Bahrain for the first time in the Asian Cup, will feature Shahrul Saad and Dominic Tan in defence, Shamar Kuti Abba in midfield, and Paulo Josue in defense by head coach Kim Pangong. As a result, four members of the starting lineup were changed. The only striker in a 5-4-1 formation.

Especially in the 16th minute, Arif Ayman Hanapi pounced on a loose ball that Josue was unable to push in from a cross from Faisal Abdul Halim, but his shot was only deflected by Bahrain goalkeeper Ebrahim Lutfallah. By the end of the day, it appeared that the changes were almost bearing fruit.

Three minutes later, Arif Ayman came close to scoring again, but he was a little too late to meet a cross from Josue, and in the 28th minute, right-back Matthew Davies’ cross from the left of the goal narrowly missed the post. did.

Bahrain then launched an attack of their own in the 31st minute, with midfielder Komail Alaswad managing to weave through the Malaysian defense inside the penalty area and beat keeper Ahmad Shihan Hazmi Mohamed, but thankfully Dion Cools and Dominic was on hand to take control of the situation.

Malaysia seemed to have the upper hand in the first half, but Bahrain came back in the second half, and Abdullah Yusuf’s header in the 56th minute just missed the post, drawing attention to Malaysia.

However, Harimau Malaya held on and almost scored in the 90th minute with a superb volley from Davis, who took substitute Akhya Abdul Rashid’s cross high into the air.

Bahrain squandered a chance just before stoppage time when Ahmad Shihan saved substitute midfielder Ali Hasan’s superb one-two shot.

But it was Bahrain’s night, and as the sixth minute of stoppage time arrived, midfielder Ali Madan dived for a corner kick and slotted the ball past Ahmad Shihan for the only goal of the match.

Meanwhile, in the other Group E match tonight at Doha’s Al Thumama Stadium, Jordan made the most of a 2-2 draw with South Korea to book their place in the Round of 16.

Unfortunately for Jordan, defender Yazan Al Arab scored an own goal in stoppage time in the second half, so they were unable to collect all three points. Ironically, one of Jordan’s goals came from an own goal by South Korean Park Yong-woo in the 37th minute.

South Korea took the lead in the 9th minute with a goal from Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min, but an own goal in the 37th minute allowed Jordan to take the lead, and Yazan Al Naimat’s first half gave Jordan the lead. Additional time goal.