Rugby-mad Fiji holds Malaysia to 1-1 draw

Malaysia could only manage a 1-1 to Fiji, a country where probably football is played on rugby fields, to end their Oceania Tour with one win, a draw and a loss.

The results of the Oceania Tour against countries ranked well below Malaysia's 173rd FIFA World ranking certainly do not auger well for the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) hopes of improving the country's status in the FIFA ranking.

Malaysia under coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee produced another inept performance at the Prince Charles Park Stadium in Nadi, against a country where football does not even hit the back pages of their local dailies since rugby is their number one sport.

Playing under sweltering heat, Malaysia created at least two goal-worthy chances early in the match through Mohd Amirul Hadi Zainal in the 14th minute and Mohd Amri Yahyah 10 minutes later but Fiji defended well.

Malaysia finally made one of the chances count when S. Chanturu set Amri Yahyah away with a splendid pass to score in the 41st minute but Fiji skipper Roy Krishna who plays for New Zealand club side Wellington Phoenix in the Australian League, netted the equalising goal in the 72nd minute.

Kim Swee said Malaysia had a number of chances but failed to turn them into goals.

"The hot weather and poor pitch condition made playing conditions difficult but the players managed to put up a good performance," said Kim Swee in an audio recording that was made available to Bernama by FAM's media officer.

Malaysia who started the Oceania Tour on the wrong footing by losing 0-2 to Papua New Guinea (ranked 193rd in the world), on June 17 managed to salvage some pride by beating New Caledonia (ranked 183rd), 2-1 last Wednesday.

Kim Swee said though the initial target of the tour was to win all three matches, it would serve as a platform for him to analyse the performance of the players before calling them up for the AFF Suzuki Cup training camp in September.