Malaysia complains to referee Ryuji Sato
General Secretary of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) Noor Azman Rahman said the country's refereeing committee is reviewing the match details before sending an official dispatch to the AFF. "The committee will complete the review report as soon as possible, hopefully we will have the letter before Friday," Mr. Noor Rahman told The Vibes (Malaysia) yesterday 28/12.
Japanese referee Sato angered Malaysia when he showed a red card to Azam Azmi Murad for his error of hitting Doan Van Hau outside the borderline in the 59th minute, and at the same time gave Vietnam a penalty. From there, central defender Que Ngoc Hai scored to make the score 2-0 for the host.
Mr. Sato is said to also ignore two tricky situations of Doan Van Hau with Malaysian players. In the 16th minute, when goalkeeper Dang Van Lam rushed out to catch the ball, Van Hau pushed his elbow to prevent Azam Azmi from entering the penalty area. The strong impact caused the Malaysian defender to be in pain and had to seek the care of doctors. At the end of the first half, Van Hau again elbowed midfielder Sharul Nazeem in a dispute near the middle of the field. The Malaysian player got angry and responded by shoving Van Hau, leading to a dispute between the two teams. Both times, referee Sato only reminded, not punished Van Hau.
In this match, referee Sato also drew a red card to indirectly disqualify Nguyen Van Toan in the 33rd minute. However, during the period of playing more people, Malaysia did not take advantage of the advantage to score.
Sato, 45 years old, has been a FIFA referee since 2009. He was invited to start at the 2014 V-League, and many matches had the appearance of the Vietnamese team. Japanese referees are experienced and reputable at major tournaments such as the Asian Cup and the U20 World Cup.
Sato also caught Vietnam's 2-1 win over Malaysia in the second qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup in the UAE in June 2021. At that time, he received much criticism from Malaysia when he determined that Brendan Gan had fouled Van Toan in the 80th minute in the penalty area to help Vietnam have a penalty to seal a 2-1 victory.
