English giants Manchester United just played a friendly match with a Malaysia XI yesterday (18/7/2009), as part of their pre-season Tour of Asia. And no, the Malaysian team didn't get thrashed or embarrassed. They lost only 3-2.
The match was played at Bukit Jalil, & it is game 1 of 2 matches.
United went 2-0 up inside the first 30 minutes through goals by England's Wayne Rooney & Portugal's Nani. Fans might have expected a goal glut by United after that. But no, it didn't happen. Just before half-time, Malaysian midfielder Amri Yahyah spectacularly lobbed the United keeper from well outside the United penalty box. Early in the second-half, Malaysia XI amazingly made it 2-2 when Amri Yahyah grabbed his second, intercepting a backpass to the United goalkeeper. New signing Michael Owen (who played for United's archrivals Liverpool years ago) scored United's winner 5 minutes from time.
The Malaysia XI is virtually the Malaysian national team. They are coached by K Rajagopal, who took over as Malaysia's head coach only 3-4 few months ago. They would have seen the matches against Manchester Utd as part of their squad rebuilding, & a rare chance to get valuable experience against top-class opposition. Losing so narrowly against the former European champions is definitely no disgrace. In fact, they should be encouraged.
I saw the match highlights on Youtube (see below). The stadium seemed jam-packed, & there were many Malaysians wearing Manchester Utd jerseys. Not surprising there, as United are immensely popular in the Far East. They cheered when their beloved club scored their goals. But when the Malaysian XI scored theirs, those same fans wearing the United kit also cheered (!), because it's their national team. Funny! They must have been encouraged that their national team can do something against their favourite club. Of course, there were also many Malaysian fans in the stadium who wear the Malaysian team jerseys.
So United win, as expected. Not so expected is the fact that they won by such a narrow margin, even if they are in pre-season mode. As for the Malaysian team, they deserve credit for their spirited showing. And wow, they managed to score 2 goals against Manchester United, one of Europe's top clubs. How many goals did Brisbane Roar score against Celtic last week???
Malaysia XI will play Manchester Utd again in game 2, on 20/7/2009.
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