Malaysia U-22 goalkeeper coach Kris Yong revealed that he had sensed “something bad” would happen after watching goalkeeper Haziq Nadzli in the SEA Games final against Thailand on Tuesday.
Despite defending that Haziq was prepared mentally before the match, Yong became alarmed when the 19 years old goalkeeper made a blunder that almost resulted in a goal 12 minutes.
“As a former goalkeeper, I could sense what was going through in his mind after he made the first blunder, where he found it difficult to hold on to the ball from a cross,” Kris told Timesport on Wednesday.
“I think Haziq anticipated that it would be difficult to catch the ball when the second corner-kick came in. Instead, he used his left fist to try punching the ball out of the danger zone and into play.
“It is a very difficult technique to execute. It sometimes happens in football… probably the best thing to do was to catch the ball.”
In the Tuesday final, Malaysia suffered a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Thailand after Haziq accidentally punched the ball into his own net from a corner kick in the 39th minute.