There was a real shock when the team sheet was released ahead of the Malaysia-Laos game on Sunday. Safawi Rasid, Nik Akif Syahiran and Shahrul Nizam were all left on the bench for Malaysia's second game in Group J, at a time when the perception was that Malaysia needed to chase for goals against V. Sundramoorthy's side.
The selection as well as the unavailability of the injured Danial Amier meant that the team struggled badly against arguably one of the weaker teams in the group. In fact, the roles were reversed on the pitch where Laos performed like the better team and it was a real shock to the system.