{"id":28712,"date":"2024-09-11T14:12:46","date_gmt":"2024-09-11T05:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/?p=28712"},"modified":"2024-09-11T14:12:46","modified_gmt":"2024-09-11T05:12:46","slug":"malaysia-clinch-merdeka-tournament-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/2024\/09\/11\/malaysia-clinch-merdeka-tournament-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Malaysia Clinch Merdeka Tournament Title"},"content":{"rendered":"

Malaysia ended their long winless streak against Middle Eastern teams and reclaimed their first Merdeka Tournament trophy after 11 years, defeating Lebanon 1-0 in the final on Sunday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The victory over the 116th-ranked team in the world at Bukit Jalil National Stadium was a sweet moment for national team coach Pau Marti, who lifted his first trophy after just two matches in charge of the Harimau Malaya<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The triumph also served as redemption for last year\u2019s disappointment when Malaysia lost 2-0 to Tajikistan in the final, during which Marti was an assistant to Kim Pan-gon.<\/p>\n

The last time Malaysia won the Merdeka Tournament was in 2013, when the Under-23 squad beat Myanmar 2-0 in the final.<\/p>\n

In the match, Harimau Malaya<\/em> made six changes to the starting lineup compared to their match against the Philippines on September 4th. The team displayed a more organized and dominant performance, frequently attacking Lebanon\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n

Naturalized player Romel Morales ignited cheers at the National Stadium by scoring the game\u2019s only goal in the 33rd minute after his close-range shot beat Lebanon goalkeeper, Mehdi Khalil.<\/p>\n

The introduction of young star Arif Aiman in the second half boosted Malaysia\u2019s attack, and he came close to adding a second goal in the 52nd minute after dribbling past two Lebanese defenders, but his shot was saved by Khalil.<\/p>\n

Lebanon\u2019s woes worsened when they were reduced to 10 men after former Sri Pahang FC defender Khalil Khamis received a red card in the 78th minute.<\/p>\n

Khamis was shown a red card after receiving his second yellow for fouling Aiman, which also led to some tension between the officials on both benches, though the situation was quickly diffused.<\/p>\n

Despite the numerical advantage, the Harimau Malaya<\/em> couldn\u2019t extend their lead, and Morales’ lone goal remained the decisive factor, delivering a meaningful victory to Malaysia\u2019s passionate supporters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Malaysia ended their long winless streak against Middle Eastern teams and reclaimed their first Merdeka Tournament trophy after 11 years, defeating Lebanon 1-0 in the final on Sunday. The victory over the 116th-ranked team in the world at Bukit Jalil National Stadium was a sweet moment for national team coach Pau Marti, who lifted his first trophy after just two matches in charge of the Harimau Malaya. The triumph also served as redemption for last year\u2019s disappointment when Malaysia lost 2-0 to Tajikistan in the final, during which Marti was an assistant to Kim Pan-gon. The last time Malaysia won the Merdeka Tournament was in 2013, when the Under-23 squad … Continue reading “Malaysia Clinch Merdeka Tournament Title”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":28286,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[857,26],"tags":[935,64,2885,95,315,2429],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28712"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28712"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28713,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28712\/revisions\/28713"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}