Merdeka Cup Vietnam's

Malaysia failed to defend the Merdeka Cup going down 5-6 to Vietnam in penalty shootout after a goalless 120 minutes at the National Stadium, Bukit Jalil on Saturday night.
Vietnam's under-23 team, who crushed Myanmar and Mozambique before drawing 2-2 with Bangladesh in their group and eliminated Sierra Leone on penalties in the semifinal, stuck to their game plan and got the reward after holding free-scoring Malaysia when they won the lottery of penalties.
Norhafiz Zamani Misbah was the Malaysian 'villain', missing the first of the sudden death penalties when tied at 5-5 while Mai Tien Thanh converted his effort but it was unfortunate for the hosts who played much better than their opponents.
Malaysia's form en route to the final, which saw them scoring 18 goals and conceding none, certainly pointed to the title being retained convincingly.
But Vietnam, preparing for next year's Laos Sea Games, would soon prove to be far tougher opponents and they lived up to their promise to keep a close eye on the Malaysian forwards.
Safee Sali and Indra Putra Mahayuddin, whose partnership has been impressive throughout, were willing but found the Vietnamese defenders an uncompromising lot as they hardly gave the Malaysians any room to move.
Vietnam's game plan was to defend in numbers with quick counter attacks and the offside trap at every opportunity and in one of these situations, Indra slotted the ball into the net in the seventh minute only for the linesman to intervene with his flag.
Buoyed by the 30,000-strong home crowd, Malaysia kept pressing but failed to make half chances count as Shukor Adan headed straight to Vietnam keeper Bui Tan Truong.
The visitors had a chance of their own two minutes later but skipper Mai Xuan Hop's effort from close range was blocked by Irwan Fadhli.
It had been a largely uneventful first half and the script did not change much in the second as the home side continued pressing but lacked the final touch while Vietnam were content with the occasional counter attack.
One added ingredient though was overly robust play and one incident in the 70th minute, which saw a Vietnam player sprawled on the pitch following a challenge, resulted in assistant coach Khoa Hung Binh being sent to the stands for his protests.
The remaining minutes were equally uneventful, forcing extra time but the additional 30 minutes remained goalless and when it came to penalties, Vietnam proved just why they played for the 120 minutes as they scored all six to lift the Merdeka Cup.
The Vietnamese who lifted their first Merdeka Cup since 1966 returned with USD 10,000 while Malaysia received USD 5,000.