SL lose to Brunei in FIFA friendly series

By Susil Premalal

Sri Lanka suffered a 0-1 defeat at the hands of Brunei in their FIFA World Cup friendly series second encounter played at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Brunei.

Brunei went into half time with a 1-0 advantage following a 36th-minute goal from Mohamed Azwan.

In the opening friendly encounter played at the same venue, Sri Lanka went down to the same opponents by the same margin.

This is the first time in the history that Sri Lanka has suffered back-to-back defeats at the hands of Brunei.

Earlier, Sri Lanka edged out Brunei 1-0 in the AFC Challenge Cup Tournament fixture in 2006 and had the better of the same opponents 5-1 in an international friendly encounter in 2009.

According to the latest FIFA World Rankings Brunei (194) are ahead of Sri Lanka (204).

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka are set to face Cambodia in two matches of the AFC Asian Qualifiers in Saudi Arabia in 2027.

The Sri Lanka v Cambodia first leg match will be played on September 5 in Colombo and the second leg will be played on September 10 in Cambodia.