AFF Suzuki Cup: Thailand 0 - 0 Malaysia

Thailand failed to kick-start their faltering AFF Suzuki Cup campaign, drawing 0-0 against Malaysia in Indonesia. The Thais dominated proceedings on an absolute dog of a pitch, but did not show enough quality in the final third to force a winning goal.

The game started brightly enough for Bryan Robson's men who were looking to step up the intensity of their play after a weak performance against Laos. Their hopes for an early goal almost came to fruition, but Sarayoot Chaikamdee could not convert either of his two early chances. Teerasil Dangda also sliced a shot wide of the target when well placed. Malaysia, who came into the game on the back of a 5-1 hammering by Indonesia, deserve great credit for holding firm and thwarting the early Thai pressure.

The rest of the half took on a familiar pattern as Thailand had plenty of possession and tried to attack down the flanks. Suree Sukha in particular looked lively, sending a series of dangerous crosses into the penalty area. Further chances fell to Datsakorn Thonglao and Pichitpong Choeicheu, but in truth, Malaysian keeper Khairul Fahmi was not troubled by either effort or by numerous other long-range shots.

The Malays had to wait until the 44th minute to register their first shot on goal. Norshahrul Idlan received the ball under pressure from a defender, but he showed a distinct lack of composure, scuffing his shot straight at Thai keeper Sinthaweechai.

Malaysia came out firing after the break and were very close to opening the scoring on 47 minutes. Nattapong Samana was adjudged to have committed a foul close to the edge of the box, leaving Safiq Bin Rahim to curl the dead-ball over the wall and agonisingly wide of the post.

After surviving that scare, Thailand were straight back on the front foot, focusing their attacks down the middle of the pitch rather than using the flanks. The middle of the pitch though, was as a congested as Sukhumvit Road at rush hour! Indeed, it was very noticeable that during the opening 25-30 minutes of the second period, strikers Sarayoot and Teerasil hardly touched the ball as a consequence. Rather than try and work an opening, the impatient Thai midfielders adopted a shoot on sight policy, taking it in turns to fire wayward pot-shots from outside the area.

As Thailand started to commit more men forward in search of a goal, their defence became vulnerable to counter attacks. Just after the hour mark Kuna Subramaniam wasted a golden chance to score, failing to hit the target from a promising position.

With time running out, Thailand finally showed some patience and craft around the packed penalty area. Datsakorn flicked an audacious pass to Sarayoot, whose first touch enabled him to rifle a shot on target. Unfortunately though, Safiq blocked the close range effort.

Moments later, the referee was involved in the biggest talking point of the match. Suchao Nuchnum burst into the penalty area and was wiped out by a Malaysian defender. Sgt Win Cho from Myanmar waved away the Thai penalty appeals before booking Suchao for diving - much to the frustration of Bryan Robson.

With one final flurry, Teerasil Dangda tried to snatch all 3 points for Thailand. His shot/cross took a big deflection off a defender and looped agonisingly onto the crossbar...Cue more looks of anguish from Robson. 

So that's two games, two draws, two goals scored, two goals conceded and two points for Thailand so far in the AFF Suzuki Cup. You'd expect Malaysia to beat Laos in the next round of fixtures, meaning nothing but a win will do for Thailand against Indonesia. It will not be an easy task though. The Indonesians would love nothing more than to send the Thais home with their tails firmly between their legs.

 THAILAND : 18. Sinthaweechai Hathairattanakool, 2. Suree Sukha, 3. Nattapong Samana, 6. Nattapon Phanrit, 7. Datsakorn Thonglao (c) (13. Therdsak Chaiman), 8. Suchao Nuchnum, 9. Sarayoot Chaikamdee, 10. Teerasil Dangda, 17. Sutee Suksomkit (25. Kirati Kaewsombat), 19. Pichitpong Choeichiu, 20. Panupong Wongsa

 UNUSED SUBS : 30. Sivaruk Tedsungnoen, 4. Chonlatit Jantakam, 5. Suttinun Phukhom, 21. Teerathon Boonmatan, 11. Rangsan Vivatchaichok, 28. Naruphol Aromsawa, 14. Teeratep Winothai

 YELLOW CARDS : Nattapong Samana, Nattapon Phanrit, Suchao Nuchnum

 GOALS :

 MALAYSIA : 22. Khairul Fahmi, 4. Mohd Asraruddin, 8. Safiq Bin Rahim (c), 9. Norshahrul Idlan, 10. Mohd Safee (17. Mohd Amri), 12. Amar Bin Rohidan, 16. Kuna Subramaniam, 18. Mahalli Bin Jasuli (2. Mohd Sabre), 21. Mohd Amirulhadi (14. Mohd Khyril Muhymeen), 24. Mohamad Muslim, 27. Mohamad Fadhli

 UNUSED SUBS : 28. Mohd Sharbinee, 6. Mohd Razman Roslan, 3. Mohd Faizal, 15. Gurusamy Kandasamy, 19. Mohammad Faizal, 20. Izzaq Fari

 YELLOW CARDS : Mohd Safee

 GOALS :

Video courtesy of Tungstenpalm