KUALA LUMPUR: Colombian-born hitman Romel Morales said Malaysia missed several scoring chances against Oman on Thursday and he hopes the team can finish them off in the return match on Tuesday at Bukit Jalil.
Though Harimau Malaya lost 2-0 to Oman in the away game of their World Cup qualifier, Morales felt the team played well.
The naturalised player said he was proud of Malaysia's performance on that day, and the result would have been better if they had been more clinical in their finish.
In January, Morales played as a reserve against mighty South Korea and scored the equaliser in a 3-3 draw in the Asian Cup in Doha.
But on Thursday in Muscat, he played the full 90 minutes in the frontline alongside Arif Aiman Hanapi and Faisal Halim.
In Muscat, Malaysia suffered their first loss in the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign as Oman scored two second half goals though Issam Abdallah Al-Sabhi and Muhsen Saleh Al-Ghassani.
On the match against Oman, Morales said: "We have done our best. I'm proud of the team's performance despite the loss.
"We pressured Oman and we could see it as after they scored, they kept defending. We dominated the match.
"But we just couldn't convert our chances. Our team's attitude was good during that match.
"Now we need to focus on the return game at home. We will give our all to win it," Morales told a news portal.
The loss to Oman also saw Malaysia being displaced by the Reds at the top of Group D. Earlier, Kim Pan Gon's men had travelled to Muscat as the group leaders after wins over Kyrgyzstan (4-3) and Taiwan (1-0) last year.
Malaysia have now dropped to third in the group behind second-placed Kyrgyzstan who beat Taiwan away on Thursday.
Oman, Kyrgyzstan and Malaysia are separated by only goal difference. All three teams have collected two wins and one loss.
Malaysia's target in the pre-World Cup is at least 12 points. They have collected only half of that so far.
Malaysia must win at least two of their three remaining group matches (against Oman, Kyrgyzstan in Bishkek on June 6 and Taiwan at Bukit Jalil
in June 11) in order to finish second and qualify for the next round.