2023 Asian Cup: Was fielding Natxo really the better move?

DOHA: In football, fortune can be a very fickle thing and everything can change in an instant. For many Harimau Malaya fans, that moment was not when Bahrain's midfielder Ali Madan scored the winning goal in the very last minute of 2023 Asian Cup Group E 0-1 loss, but early in the second half, when Malaysian head coach Kim Pan Gon fielded Natxo Insa as a substitute for midfielder Mohamed Syamer Kutty Abba.

Until the substitution, Mohamed Syamer, 27, had played an instrumental role in filling in the gaps between the defence and attack, which resulted in more dynamic play and a confident Harimau Malaya.

His pairing with Stuart Wilkin proved to an advantage that was lacking in the team that lost 0-4 to Jordan in their opening match on Monday.

Perhaps if he had played on in the second half, Malaysia might have been able to score as the mounting pressure could have caused Bahrain to slip up. Instead, Bahrain ended up with 66 per cent possession at the end of the match.

Why did Pan Gon not choose another midfielder, say, Brendan Gan, who has proven himself in previous matches but stuck with Natxo, the experienced Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) player who made only one appearance for Malaysia in March 2018?

Actually, Natxo, 38 has never been fielded in the squad since Pan Gon took over the team in January 2022, but was called up several times for centralised training, so it is quite surprising when a teammate who has never played with the team in a match was fielded in a crucial game like yesterday's against Bahrain.

Pan Gon did not state specifically his rationale in fielding Natxo, but did stress that every change he made was to accommodate the team's needs in light of changes on the field.

Mohamed Syamer did mention that the change was due to the game's tactical demands and to reduce the risk of the team being down to 10 men after he picked up a yellow card in the first half, while Natxo said that every player fielded wanted to give his best and that there was immense pressure when players played for their country.

"It's a good experience for us and as for younger players it was a really valuable experience because they got to know this kind of environment, maybe in the next edition they know how to managed the situation better," he said.

What was clearly obvious about yesterday's match was the team that made the less errors in such a high intensity game had better chances of winning.

Ranked at 86th in the world compared to Malaysia's 130th, Bahrain, was the more experienced team with nearly all advantages on paper and were patient throughout the 90 minutes as they waited for their chances to change their fortunes.

Their moment finally came at the very last minute of injury time, when Ali Madan received the ball from a corner kick and took his shot, beating keeper Ahmad Syihan Hazmi Mohamed to secure victory for his team, and effectively ending Malaysia's campaign in this year's Asian Cup.

-- BERNAMA