2008 Merdeka Tournament

The 40th Merdeka Tournament was played from the 15th to the 5th of October 2008.^[1] The tournament was won by Vietnam Under-22s who defeated Malaysia 6-5 through a penalty kick in the final.

Contents 1 Teams 2 Stadiums 3 Group Stages 3.1 Group A 3.2 Group B 4 Knockout stages 4.1 Knockout map 4.2 Semi finals 4.3 Finals 5 Winners 6 Goalscorers 7 References

Teams

Afghanistan  Bangladesh

Malaysia (host country)  Mozambique*

Myanmar  Nepal

Sierra Leone**  Vietnam***

^*Mozambique replaced Kazakhstan following Kazakhstan’s failure to confirm participation.^[2] Mozambique will play with their Under 20 squad.

^**Sierra Leone will be sending their Under 20 squad.

^***Vietnam will be sending their Under 22 squad.^[3]

Stadiums

City	Stadium	Capacity
Kuala Lumpur	National Stadium, Bukit Jalil*	100,000
Shah Alam	Shah Alam Stadium	81,000
Petaling Jaya	MBPJ Stadium	25,000

^*Venue for last group match change because of the poor pitch condition at the MBPJ Stadium.^[4]

Group Stages

All times local (UTC+8)

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Malaysia	3	3	0	0	14	0	+14	9
Sierra Leone U-20	3	2	0	1	9	6	+3	6
Nepal	3	0	1	2	3	9	-6	1
Afghanistan	3	0	1	2	3	14	-11	1

15 October 2008 20:45	Malaysia	4 – 0	Nepal	MBPJ Stadium Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Junji Huang
	Indra Putra  20' Safee  25'  48' Khyril  52'	Report

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17 October 2008 18:30	Afghanistan	2 – 2	Nepal	MBPJ Stadium
	Barakzai  62' Sayed Bashir Azimi  86'	Report	A Gurung  63' B Gurung  72'

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17 October 2008 20:45	Malaysia	4 – 0	Sierra Leone U-20	MBPJ Stadium Attendance: 1,500
	Indra Putra  69' Safee  75' Aidil Zafuan  79' Zaquan Adha  90'	Report

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19 October 2008 18:30	Afghanistan	1–6	Sierra Leone U-20	MBPJ Stadium
	Hafizullah Qadami  47'	Report	Turay  20' Amara Kamara  51' Kabia  60' Foray  76'  86' Sulaiman Kamara  88'

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20 October 2008 20:45	Nepal	1–3	Sierra Leone U-20	Shah Alam Stadium
	Rai  40' (pen)	Report	Bah  6' Turay  88' Freeman  90'

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20 October 2008 20:45	Malaysia	6–0	Afghanistan	National Stadium, Bukit Jalil Attendance: 3,000
	Ashaari  21'  64' Nizaruddin  41' Zaquan Adha  44' Safee  85' Hairuddin  87'	Report

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Vietnam U-22	3	2	1	0	9	3	+6	7
Myanmar	3	2	0	1	5	5	0	6
Mozambique U-20	3	1	0	2	3	7	-4	3
Bangladesh	3	0	1	2	2	4	-2	1

16 October 2008 18:30	Myanmar	1 – 3	Vietnam U-22	Shah Alam Stadium Attendance: 1,200 Referee: Fredy Chukwa
	Zaw Htet Aung  44'	Report	Thanh Binh  3'  47' Duc Thien  74'

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16 October 2008 20:45	Bangladesh	0 – 1	Mozambique U-20	Shah Alam Stadium Attendance: 3000 Referee: P. Sasidaran
		Report	Jange  88'

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18 October 2008 18:30	Mozambique U-20	0 – 4	Vietnam U-22	Shah Alam Stadium
		Report	Thanh Binh  58' Dinh Tung  63'  80' Quang Vinh  72'

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18 October 2008 20:45	Bangladesh	0–1	Myanmar	Shah Alam Stadium
			Soe Myat Min  23'

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20 October 2008 18:30	Bangladesh	2–2	Vietnam U-22	Shah Alam Stadium
	Jahid  32' Zahid  49'	Report	Van Khai  4' Thanh Binh  62'

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20 October 2008 18:30	Mozambique U-20	2–3	Myanmar	National Stadium, Bukit Jalil
	Saize  40' Peguenino  65'	Report	Min Thu  57' Soe Myat Min  69' Khin Maung Lwin  72'

Knockout stages

All times local (UTC+8)

Knockout map

	Semi-finals				Final
	23 October
	Vietnam U-22 (PSO)	2 (3)
	Sierra Leone U-20	2 (2)
					25 October
					Vietnam U-22 (PSO)	0 (6)
					Malaysia	0 (5)
	23 October
	Malaysia	4
	Myanmar	0

Semi finals

23 October 2008 17:45	Vietnam U-22	2 – 2 (aet)	Sierra Leone U-20	National Stadium, Bukit Jalil Attendance: 5,000
	Quang Vinh  73' Duc Thien  81'	Report	Kabia  39' Foray  68'
		Penalties
		3–2

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23 October 2008 20:45	Malaysia	4 – 0	Myanmar	National Stadium, Bukit Jalil Attendance: 20,000 Referee: Chaiya Alee Mahapab
	Indra Putra  26'  76' (pen) Safee  61' Amirul Hadi  83'	Report

Finals

25 October 2008 20:45	Vietnam U-22	0 – 0 (aet)	Malaysia	National Stadium, Bukit Jalil Attendance: 50,000 Referee: Chaiya Alee Mahapab
		Report
		Penalties
		6 – 5

Winners

2008 Merdeka Tournament Winner
Vietnam 1st title

Goalscorers

5 goals Mohd Safee Mohd Sali 4 goals Indra Putra Mahayuddin Phan Thanh Binh 3 goals Dwight Foray 2 goals Mohd Zaquan Adha Abdul Radzak Mohd Ashaari Shamsuddin Alusine Turay Mohamed Kabia Hoang Dinh Tung Nguyen Duc Thien Trinh Quang Vinh Soe Myat Min

1 goals Lahai Freeman Mamadu Lajor Bah Sulaiman Kamara Amara Kamara Mohd Amirul Hadi Zainal Hairuddin Omar Mohd Nizaruddin Yusof Mohd Khyril Muhymeen Zambri Mohd Aidil Zafuan Abdul Radzak Hafizullah Qadami Hashmatullah Barakzai Sayed Bashir Azimi Mohd Jahid Hasan Ameli Md Zahid Hossain Jumanu Rai Anil Gurung

Bijaya Gurung Franciso Jange Enio Saize Mouricio Peguenino Zaw Htet Aung Min Thu Khin Maung Lwin Nguyen Van Khai

References