KUALA LUMPUR: Ali Mabkhout continued to be the scourge of Malaysia, as the Arabian knight again cut down Tan Cheng Hoe's team in a World Cup qualifier in Dubai this morning.
In 2019, in the first round of the qualifiers, the Malaysian team were already warned about the United Arab Emirates (UAE) striker.
"Watch out for Ali, he's very dangerous," team officials sounded the alarm.
Yet, Ali came to Bukit Jalil, slicing through the Malaysian defence, his legs very much his scimitar. He plundered two goals then as UAE won 2-1.
Two days ago, Cheng Hoe again told his men: "Watch out for Ali Mabkhout, he's dangerous."
It's not that the Malaysian team don't listen. They tried to stop Ali, but the desert raider simply slipped through their defence like sands slipping through fingers.
Ali duly got two goals, in the 19th and 91st minutes, and should have scored more if he had been a bit more lucky.
UAE bagged two more goals (83rd and 94th) though their naturalised Brazilian Fabio de Lima who turned out to be much better than Malaysia's naturalised Brazilian Guilherme de Paula, who had a poor game, and a night to forget.
Malaysia lost 4-0, and could have conceded more goals, if not for some fine goalkeeping by Farizal Marlias.
But the four-goal defeat was still much better than the last time the Malaysian team came to UAE to play a World Cup qualifier. In 2016, it was a 10-0 whitewash by the Whites; that was the darkest day in Malaysian football.
UAE, ranked World No 73, proved to be a in different class than World No. 153 Malaysia. So, the Fifa rankings did not lie, as some would like to argue that it's not a true reflection.
UAE were simply the better team, better in skill and tactics. Simple as that.
The defeat saw Malaysia dropping to fourth spot from second in Group G while UAE climbed to second place.