Football: Darren rues missed chances to beat mighty Syria in friendly

PETALING JAYA: No one expected Harimau Malaya to hold the mighty Syria to a 2-2- draw but striker Darren Lok could not help but wish it was a win.

Darren had a chance to score a winner when his header off a low-drilled cross from winger Faisal Halim in the 59th minute went over the bar during the Tier 1 international friendly at the East-Town Football Park Stadium in Chengdu, China on Wednesday.

He however, got it right in the 80th minute when he capitalised on a loose save from Syrian goalkeeper Taha Mousa off a brilliant Safawi Rasid shot to score the equaliser.

The other goal was scored by Akhyar Rashid in the 51st minute while Syria’s Mardik Mardikian and Yassin Samia delivered in the 12th and 41st minutes respectively.

Besides scoring the goal, the 32-year-old Darren also impressed with his superb pressing upfront and ability to hold up play, which allowed players like Faisal and Akhyar to get more scoring chances upfront.

But the Sabahan wanted an icing on the cake.

“I’m happy that the team made a comeback from 0-2 down with a good showing in the second-half,” said Darren.

“But we are disappointed as we had a lot of chances but could not end the game with a win. The draw was good but a win would have been better.”

Darren is expected to start again when Malaysia take on China in another international friendly match at the Chengdu Phoenix Hill Stadium tomorrow.

Substitute Akhyar is also expected to be in the first 11 following his superb second-half showing against Syria.

The 24-year-old winger, who now has 10 international goals for Malaysia in 41 matches, was pleased as punch.

“The comeback felt good. I hope we can maintain this momentum, especially our performance in the second-half. Actually, even the first half was good as we were able to match the tempo with the Syrians,” he said.

The upcoming tie would be a tougher one as China are ranked 80th in the world and were once a World Cup finalist when they played in the 2002 World Cup.

Coached by Serbian Aleksandar Jankovic, the home side have some top players in their ranks, like strikers Brazilian Elkeson and Wu Lei, hard-working midfielder Nico Yennaris and aggressive centreback Zhang Lingpeng.

It presents a different challenge but Harimau Malaya, under the tutelage of Kim Pan-gon, are hopeful of producing another virtuoso performance.