China 5 Malaysia 1

THAT'S the scoreline of Malaysia's first match in the Asian Cup.

Playing the Chinese was no walk in the park for Norizan Bakar's boys and one wonders what the media might think of the rather lackside attitude seen in the defenders. We shall read in tomorrow's papers.

China obtained their goals via Han Peng (15th minute, 55th minute) Shao Jiayi (36th min) and Wang Dong (51st, 90th mins).

Indra Putra Mahayuddin (pic) scored the nation's solitary goal of the match in the 72nd minute.

Norizan made a big mistake by not placing K.Nanthakumar in his starting line up. Nanta was instead brought it in the second half. Nevertheless, the defence line was rather shaky from the start right to the end allowing the Chinese room to scored- most from aieral challenges thanks to their built.

On the up side, the national chargers never gave up and played on right till the end. Can they survive now the likes of Iran and Uzbekistan? Let's wait and see.

Meanwhile, former Selangor import Bambang Pamungkas scored the winning goal to give Indonesia a 2-1 win over Bahrin in Group D.

AFC Asian Cup 2007

Group A- Australia, Iraq, Oman, Thailand

Group B- Vietnam, Japan, UAE, Qatar

Group C- China, Iran, Uzbekistan, Malaysia

Group D- Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Korea Republic, Bahrain.

*teams in bold are predicted to advance into the second rounds.

-The Man Who Sold The World-