Cape Verde, a team from Africa, took the lead in the 8th minute thanks to sidny Lopes Cabral. But the striker came on as a substitute, Paulo Josue equalized in the 79th minute, helping the Malaysian team regain pride in the support of their home fans.
After the match, Malaysia coach Peter Cklamovski praised his players' performance. According to him, the result of the match accurately reflected the tireless efforts of the entire team.
He shared: "Tonight's match showed the clear concentration of the Malaysian team. It reflects how we practice, our spirit on and off the pitch, as well as the members' commitment to improving every day.
We always maintain the highest level, the highest standard every day with an increasingly progressive mindset and today's match clearly showed that".
Meanwhile, Cape Verde head coach Pedro Leitao Brito expressed his satisfaction with the result, especially considering the fact that the African team has up to 12 new players wearing the national team jersey for the first time.
He said: "This match is a good challenge for both teams. We had a chance to score, but given the fact that we have 12 new players, this result is acceptable."
The Malaysian team will face Cape Verde again in a closed friendly match at Bukit Jalil National Stadium on June 3.
These two friendly matches play an important role for the Malaysian team, in preparation for the match against the Vietnamese team in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers, taking place on June 10. In Group F, both Malaysia and Vietnam have 3 points after winning the opening matches.
