Malaysia gave themselves a chance of reaching the quarter-finals of the AFC Futsal Championship after recording a 5-1 win over Lebanon on Saturday.

Muhammad Shamsul gave Malaysia, who had lost their opening game 7-1 to 2012 runners-up Thailand, the perfect start after less than a minute before two quickfire goals from Nizam Ali extended the advantage at Phu Tho Stadium.

Lebanon pulled a goal back before half-time when Ali Tneich got his third goal of the tournament, but second half goals from Shamsul and Aula Ahmad secured the three points for Malaysia.

“I am surprised that we beat Lebanon 5-1, but now tomorrow I hope that my players will come to training and focus to play against Chinese Taipei,” said Malaysia coach.

“I stressed to my players not to make the same mistakes we made against Thailand and the team were very disciplined and our players followed my instructions and gave their best.

“Thailand are a world-class team and our players realised that we made a lot of mistakes in the first game so they promised to give their best in this crucial match.”

Malaysia opened the scoring when, after just 20 seconds, Qaiser Kadir found Shamsul and he hit his shot first time into the roof of the net.

Malaysia’s lead was doubled on five minutes when Lebanon’s Mohamad Kobeissy tried to intercept a pass only for the ball to fall nicely for Ali who composed himself before beating Hussein Hamadani.

And a third goal for Malaysia arrived in the 11th minute when Ali played a nice one-two with Ahmad before rounding the goalkeeper and slotting the ball into an empty net.

Lebanon, though, found a way back into the game four minutes before the break when Tneich pounced on a slip from Abu Hasan to score.

Kamel Elias then missed a chance to pull a second goal back less than a minute after the break as he fired wide after being found in space by Hassan Zeitoun with just the goalkeeper to beat.

And Malaysia restored their three-goal advantage in the 23rd minute as Asmie Zahari fizzed the ball across the face of the goal from Kadir’s corner and Shamsul tapped home his second of the game from close range.

Wanting to get back into the game, and with still 13 minutes remaining, Lebanon coach Francisco Araujo sacrificed substitute goalkeeper Tarek Tabboush and brought on Kobeissy as an extra outfield player.

But the tactic backfired in the 34th minute when Ahmad was able to direct his effort from within his own half on target with no Lebanon players protecting the goal just seconds after Zahari had hit the post.

And Lebanon, who beat Chinese Taipei 8-5 in their opening game, could not find a way back despite the extra outfield player.

“We started the match slowly like the first match, but this time we couldn’t make it back into the game,” said Lebanon coach Araujo, who now must prepare his side for a meeting with 2012 finalists Thailand on Monday.

“We talked in the dressing room that we should be fully concentrated from the start and not to concede early, but we did not start how I wanted and we conceded that first goal and paid for it.

“We conceded three early goals, but it wasn’t like the first game where we came back, it was not that easy to do.”

According to AFC