THE Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has sent an official letter to the Asean Football Federation (AFF) over the refereeing quality in the match involving Vietnam and Malaysia in Group B of the 2022 AFF Cup at the My Dinh National Stadium, Hanoi, on Tuesday. 

FAM secretary-general Noor Azman Rahman in a statement informed that action was taken after views were obtained from the FAM Referee Evaluation Committee chaired by FAM deputy president S. Sivasundaram, who discussed and examined video clips of several incidents throughout the match. 

“Following that, an official letter expressing FAM’s dissatisfaction with the referee’s actions and decisions in the match was sent to AFF secretary-general Winston Lee this afternoon, to ensure further action can be taken by the Southeast Asian football governing body,” he said. 

Controversy erupted when Japanese referee Ryuji Sato awarded a penalty kick to the home team and also red-carded Muhammad Azam Azmi Murad in the 62nd minute after the Japanese referee claimed the Terengganu FC youngster had fouled Doan Van Hau outside the field. 

Que Ngoc Hai made the most of the opportunity to double Vietnam’s lead after Nguyen Tien Linh had put the team ahead in the first half, and the home side finished with a 3-0 victory courtesy of Nguyen Hoang Duc’s goal close to full-time. 

The defeat meant Malaysia failed to end their winless drought against the two-time AFF Cup champions since 2014 – losing seven and drawing once, while last night’s success for Vietnam saw them top Group B with six points from two games. 

Malaysia are in second with six points, followed by Singapore in third place with six points and a game in hand, while Myanmar and Laos sit at the bottom without any points so far. – Bernama, December 29, 2022.