Bangladesh begin ASEAN Cup with heavy 3-0 loss to Malaysia

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Bangladesh began their FIFA ASEAN Cup campaign with a heavy 3-0 defeat to Malaysia in the opening match at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta on Friday.

Bangladesh coach Thomas Doley made seven changes to the starting XI from the side that beat San Marino. Farhan Ali Wahid, Shuki Itofusa and Zidan Yousuf made their international debuts.

The experimental approach backfired as Bangladesh struggled with coordination and defensive errors throughout the first hour. Malaysia took full advantage of their disjointed play.

Arif Aiman opened the scoring in the 18th minute. He collected Lian Noa’s long pass before beating defender Shakil Ahad Tappu and finding the far corner.

Bangladesh’s defensive problems surfaced again in the 37th minute when Tappu lost possession to Bergson. The Malaysian forward then set up Arif, who lifted the ball over advancing goalkeeper Mehedi Hasan Shraban to score his second goal.

Shraban denied Faisal Halim shortly before half-time to prevent Malaysia from extending their lead further.

Bangladesh’s hopes of a comeback disappeared early in the second half. Bergson controlled Corbin-Ong’s pass inside the box before finishing to make it 3-0.

Bangladesh improved after Sheikh Morsalin and Zidan Yousuf came on in the final half-hour. Their best chance came in the 76th minute when Hamza Choudhury exchanged passes with Shahriar Emon before entering the box and unleashing two powerful shots. However, the Malaysian goalkeeper made excellent saves to deny him.

Emon also failed to trouble the goalkeeper with a weak effort in the 82nd minute.

Late in the match, Shraban produced another good save to deny Malaysia’s Tierney Ferguson and prevent the deficit from increasing.

Bangladesh showed some improvement through Hamza and Morsalin towards the end, but it was too late to change the outcome as they began their ASEAN Cup campaign with a 3-0 defeat.