Manolo Marquez ‘disappointed’ after 1-1 draw in international friendly against Malaysia

India’s head coach Manolo Marquez shared his disappointment after a 1-1 draw in an international friendly against Malaysia at the GMC Balayogi Athletic Stadium, Hyderabad on Monday. After this draw, the Blue Tigers ended their 2024 season without a single win.

Meanwhile, Paulo Josue scored in the 19th minute for the visitors. However, Rahul Bheke’s equalized with a header from a set piece for the home team in the 39th minute.

Marquez admitted the match was really slow and feels his team didn’t adapt to the game, which cost them.

Marquez told reporters after the match, “Typical friendly game – without pace and very slow. I am a little disappointed. The players were okay – Irfan played a good game and Jithin’s 15 minutes were okay – it’s difficult in your first game.”

“It was good work [overall]. Every goal kick took a minute – the pace was very slow. We didn’t adapt to this game – we equalized in a set-piece. It’s true they equalized in an action without danger – their last action was dangerous [referring to Tierney’s header off the post], but more or less the result was fair.”

“We have four months till the next break. The list [squad] will be more clear in the next window – more or less the league will be over.”

On the other hand, the caretaker coach of Malaysia Pau Marti was satisfied with the performance of his team while playing away.

Marti said, “I’m really satisfied with the performance – the players adjusted well to the game. The plan we had worked well – we had more chances than them and could have won the game in the second half.”

“We expected India to press, so we were not surprised. We tried our best to play out, but we also tried to go long because India could struggle with the ball in behind. We had a lot of chances and we need to be more clinical.”

India will look to come up with an improved show in 2025.