KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- A stirring performance by an inexperienced Malaysia outfit on Sunday ultimately proved futile as they succumbed to a 2-0 loss at home to Vietnam in the first leg of their 2026 ASEAN Championship semifinal.
Despite entering the match at Kuala Lumpur Stadium as underdogs, Harimau Malaya actually enjoyed the better of the proceedings especially in the first half -- and might even have been leading before conceding the opener deep into first-half stoppage time, when the opponents broke down the right and Trương Tiến Anh's tantalising delivery was powered home by Rafaelson with a spectacular diving header.
The hosts remained well and truly in the contest throughout the second half until the 84th minute, when an unfortunate own-goal by Faris Danish - as his attempted interception only helped the ball past his goalkeeper Azri Ghani into the bottom corner - sealed for the Vietnam the win, and a commanding aggregate lead to bring back to Hanoi for Wednesday's second leg at Mỹ Đình National Stadium.
Barring a stunning revival against the reigning champions, Malaysia are now staring at elimination from the tournament just one agonising step away from the decider -- although, as they have shown throughout the tournament, captain Paulo Josué believes the supporters can be proud of the team -- especially given the way they have soldiered on despite missing a whole host of senior players.
"We're disappointed because we conceded a goal in the last minute of the first half," Josué told ESPN. "We had the ball under control, suddenly we lost the ball. They played over our backline and then they got a nice cross and everything worked for them.
"But in the last minute of the first half, we should be more alert about it. And then an own-goal, so we can't say much.
"I don't think they had much more chances than that. Even the game, I think we controlled a little bit more, if you check the possession -- I don't know yet, but I think we had a little bit more possession than them (Malaysia had 54% to Vietnam's 46%). We had a couple of chances but we did not score.
"There are a lot of things to say [we did] good, a couple of mistakes. We have a young squad so we cannot complain much about the boys.
"They are under their development so it's part of the process. For them to grow as a player, as a man. This kind of mistakes happen but we need to be proud of them. We showed a lot of good things.
"I think the coach now gives us a lot of confidence to play as much as we can."
Josué acknowledges that the team must still believe they can overturn the deficit on Wednesday, although he is also realistic enough to appreciate the challenge at hand - especially with Malaysia coach Tan Cheng Hoe's selection headache exacerbated by centre-back Rodney Celvin picking up an injury at the weekend.
"We need to go there now on Wednesday and try to give our best again," added Josué, who is his team's top scorer at the tournament with three goals so far. "Maybe something can happen but we know it's going to be very tough.
"It's not easy because the opponent is very tough. I don't think they're going to give us this kind of opportunity.
"But we have to go there -- it's another game, a different game. Maybe we can manage to score the first goal and then have a good defensive block.
"Maybe something can happen but it won't be easy but I think the coach will know how to handle it.
"Of course, we have a few players out. Today Rodney also get injured. I think we have fix or six injures [in the] whole squad. It's not easy for the coach to handle it.
"But the boys [that] came in [did] very well, so we need to be proud of them."