Our soccer team has largely achieved its intended goal in the hotly contested CONCACAF Asian qualifiers. They beat Thailand 2-1 on the road, earning a key advantage in advancing in the group.
Although only two rounds of the group stage have been played, the performance of the national soccer team has already brightened the eyes of many fans. A team originally inferior to our soccer team, in the preliminaries of the performance of stunning, a leap into the dark horse. This dark horse is Malaysia.
There was a time when Malaysia was seen as the underdogs of Asian soccer. However, in recent years, they have made a quantum leap, jumping from 178th in the world rankings five years ago to 130th today and climbing to 23rd in the Asian rankings.
In the last two rounds of the group stage of the World Qualifiers, Malaysia won back-to-back matches. Faced with a 1-3 deficit in the first round of group matches, the Malaysians were relentless and eventually drew 3-3 with Tajikistan and came back to win in the last minute of injury time when Faisal Harin scored the winning goal.
In the second round of group matches, Malaysia continued their unbeaten run with a 1-0 win away to Chinese Taipei. They are currently on top of Group D with six points and have high hopes of advancing to the Asian 18 of the World Qualifiers.
The rise of the Malaysian team has amazed many fans. They used to be the rivals of our soccer team, but in a friendly match in September this year, our team drew 1-1 with Malaysia at home. Now, it was not just a lucky draw, but a significant improvement in Malaysia's overall strength.
Looking at the results of the preliminary group stage alone, Malaysia has overtaken us. Currently, Malaysia leads the group with six points from two wins and two draws, while China is third in the group with three points from one win and one loss. Success in advancing will depend on the results of the next two matches against Singapore and whether Korea can beat Thailand away from home.
Of course, Malaysia's outstanding performance in the group stage, apart from its own improved strength, is also due to the grouping situation in Group D. Oman, the strongest team in the group, has yet to play Malaysia. The other two teams, Kyrgyzstan and Chinese Taipei, are weaker.
Despite the luck of the draw, we must also recognize that Malaysia is no longer the Asian underdogs of yesteryear. In the future, our team will have the opportunity to directly face Malaysia in the Asian tournament. If our team succeeds in advancing to the Asian 18 of the World Qualifiers, the two teams are likely to be in the same group, and then will be through the home and away matches, a showdown...
