Our soccer team has basically realized the set strategy in the cluster match of the Asian qualifying round of the World Cup between the United States, Canada and Mexico. They won the initiative to advance in the group with a 2-1 comeback on the road against Thailand.
Although the first two rounds of the group stage have come to an end, the performance of the national soccer team still brought a lot of surprises to the fans. At the same time, a team that was originally considered to be much weaker than the national football team, in the preliminaries of the outstanding performance, jumped into the dark horse. This team is Malaysia.
Malaysia, once regarded as Asia's underdog over the past few years, has made rapid progress in recent years. From being ranked 178th in the world five years ago, it has now climbed to 130th and 23rd in Asia.
In the first two rounds of the group stage of the World Qualification Tournament, Malaysia won two consecutive matches. In the first round match against Tajikistan at home, despite being 1-3 down at one stage, they did not give up and attacked hard to bring the score to 3-3. In the last minute of injury time, Faisal Harin scored the winning goal to turn the game around and beat their opponents.
In the second round away to Chinese Taipei, Malaysia won again with a score of 1-0, extending their two-game winning streak. They currently top Group D with six points and are expected to be the first to qualify for the Asian Round of 18 in the World Qualifiers.
The rise of the Malaysian team came as a surprise to many fans. After all, they had been the defeated team of our soccer team. However, in a friendly match in September this year, our soccer team drew 1-1 with Malaysia at home. Now, this result is no longer Malaysia's luck, but a true reflection of their overall strength.
Looking at the results of the group stage alone, Malaysia has overtaken us. Currently, Malaysia is at the top of the group with two wins, two draws and six points, while China is third in the group with one win, one loss and one draw. Whether or not we make it out of the group will depend on the next two matches against Singapore and whether or not South Korea can beat Thailand on the road.
Of course, the fact that Malaysia performed so well in the group stage is closely related to the grouping of Group D, apart from its own improved strength. Oman is the best team in the group and has yet to play Malaysia. The other two teams, Kyrgyzstan and Chinese Taipei, are relatively weak.
Despite the luck of the grouping, we have to admit that today's Malaysia is no longer the Asian fishbowl team of the past. In the future, our soccer team will have the opportunity to have a direct dialogue with Malaysia in Asia. If our soccer team successfully advanced to the Asian 18 of the World Cup, the two teams are likely to be divided in the same group. At that time, the two teams will play two matches at home and away, the strength of the high and low will be clear...
