On Thursday (3 June), excitement was at an all-time high because our very own Harimau Malaya took the field to face off against UAE in a bid to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

However, by the end of the night, the final score added more pain to our current MCO blues.

Tough loss

A bit too much for our Harimau Malaya.
In the match that took place early Friday (4 June) morning, our Harimau Malaya was tamed after losing 4-0 to UAE in their Group G second round 2022 World Cup/2023 Asian Cup qualifying match in Dubai.

UAE's Ali Mabkhout and Fabio De Lima netted two goals each as they beat Malaysia for the second time in this qualifying campaign, the first being a 2-1 win at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium back in September 2019.

Head coach Tan Cheng Hoe fielded his strongest side against UAE, including playing his three naturalised and heritage players, but they were still no match for a confident UAE side, who famously trumped Malaysia 10-0 back in 2015.

Ali scored the first goal for UAE in the 19th minute, before De Lima doubled the lead in the 83rd minute.

Both Ali and De Lima added more salt to the wound by scoring their second goals in the 91st and 94th minutes.

You can relive the heartbreak here, in case you can't get enough of the pain:


Despite the loss, Malaysians lavished praises on national goalkeeper Mohd Farizal Marlias, who single-handedly kept the score close until the last ten minutes of the match.

The win moves UAE up to second place in Group G, while Malaysia drops to fourth despite having the same points total as both UAE and third-placed Thailand due to the goal difference.

Malaysia is looking to get back to their winning ways when they play Vietnam on 11 June before wrapping up their qualifying campaign against Thailand on 15 June.

Malaysians react on Twitter

Of course, by now, you would have guessed what comes next: some good ol' social media roasting.

Disappointed Malaysians took to Twitter to mask their pain by sharing some dank memes.

Chin up, Harimau Malaya. Let's do better the next match, 'kay?