BY ZULHILMI ZAINAL Follow on Twitter
The 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Manila, Philippines will only commence in a few days time, but the men's football competition, contested by U-22 sides, has kicked off earlier this week with its matchday one.
On Monday, 2017 silver-medallists and Group A favourites Malaysia were held to a 1-1 draw by Myanmar. Struggling to adapt to the artificial pitch of the Rizal Memorial Stadium, they Young Tigers conceded the opening goal, Soe Moe Kyaw scoring for Myanmar in the 13th minute. But an errant backpass in Myanmar's defensive third allowed Malaysia to capitalise and net the equaliser through Hadi Fayyadh's 24th minute header. Neither team could find the back of the net again in the match and the match ended in a tie.
Malaysia v Myanmar match highlights
In the other Group A encounter of the matchday, hosts Philippines salvaged their pride with a late equaliser against Cambodia. Keo Sokpheng broke the deadlock four minutes from halftime, but the hosts were made to wait late for the equaliser, a last-gasp shot across the goalmouth by Dennis Chung ending in the bottom corner to steal a point at the death.
In the only Group B encounter to be played on Monday, Vietnam faced little resistance against Brunei, hammering the minnows 6-0 despite resting a number of key players.
Two Group B matches were played on the following day, with one of them, between Laos and Singapore, ending in a goallkess draw.
Laos vs Singapore
But the other produced a shocker, as Indonesia stun defending champions Thailand 2-0. Egy Maulana netted the opening goal as early as the fourth minute following a goalmouth melee, and Osvaldo Haay killed off the game four minutes from time, taking advantage of the Thai defence's absence while they poured forward in search of an equaliser.
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