Malaysia look to home comforts for final showdown
Dollah Salleh is counting on Malaysia's home ground advantage to upset Thailand in the second leg of the Suzuki Cup final on Saturday.
The Tigers trail Kiatisuk "Zico" Senamuang's War Elephants by two goals from Wednesday's first-leg match at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok.
While Malaysia were outplayed and outgunned by the Thais, head coach Dollah wants his players to repay the support shown to them by the Bukit Jalil Stadium's partisan support, especially after losing their other home game of the tournament to Vietnam in the semi-finals.
Giving it their all
The former Malaysian international said: "We will have to give 200 per cent to stop Zico taking the Cup to Thailand and we must take advantage of playing on home ground.
"It's not easy to play against Thailand because they are fast and skilled. And stamina-wise, I think that they are much better than us.
"But this is our home ground and we must do something for our fans because we don't want something similar to what happened in the first leg against Vietnam.
"We still have 90 minutes and we will give our very best."
Successful campaign
After surpassing expectations when most pundits had written off Malaysia's chances, Dollah won't be losing any sleep if his side fail to replicate their title-winning heroics of 2010.
Not that the former Pahang coach doesn't want to win it, though.
He said: "I only had two weeks with the players to prepare for this tournament and we didn’t expect that our national team would go all the way to the final.
"That's a KPI for me and so this could be considered a success.
"But of course, as a coach, I want us to win the Cup. And I also need the Cup to make sure that I fulfil my career collection."
Source: AFF Suzuki Cup official website
Catch the second leg on SingTel mio TV Ch 114 & StarHub TV Ch 208 (FOX Sports), 7.55pm
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M'sia will go all out against Thais at Bukit Jalil, vows Dollah
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