KUALA LUMPUR: Considering that Malaysia were playing away against a higher-ranked team, the 1-1 away draw against Kyrgyzstan in a World Cup qualifier would have been something commendable.
But in this case, it isn't enough. Malaysia needed an outright win, and that didn't happen.
So, it won't be too presumptuous to say that Harimau Malaya can forget about going to the third round of World Cup qualification.
Sure, Malaysia can hope for some crazy results in the last two group matches - Oman vs Kyrgyzstan and Malaysia vs Taiwan on June 11.
Currently, Oman, who routed Taiwan 3-0 away on Thursday, lead Group D with 12 points. Kyrgyzstan are second with 10, Malaysia are third with seven, and Taiwan bottom with no points.
The one point earned at the Dolen Omurzakov Stadium in Bishkek, the Kyrgz capital on Thursday, didn't see Malaysia going anywhere - they remain third in the group.
Malaysia, who surprised Kyrgyzstan 4-3 in the first round at Bukit Jalil, took the fight to the Central Asian team early on in the match.
But it was the White Falcons who sank their talons into Malaysia and drew first blood. Gulzhigit Alykulov fired Kyrgyzstan ahead in the 24th minute, when he broke past Malaysia defender Dominic Tan and beat goalkeeper Azri Ghani.
Fans were wondering how, Malaysia, who were missing injured key forwards Faisal Halim, Arif Aiman Hanapi and Romel Morales, were going to get a goal. It seemed no one else in the team could do the job.
Somehow, it was left to the hosts to make Malaysia's life easier by scoring a strange own goal in the 38th minute through Valery Kichin who inadvertently directed the ball into his own net.
But Malaysia's own destiny is now beyond their control.
