The 23-year-old saw off competition from the likes of Danish star Pernille Harder, of German club VfL Wolfsburg, and Brazil’s Marta — winner of FIFA’s best player prize — to take the prize organised by France Football magazine following a vote by journalists from around the world.

Hegerberg was one of seven players from the all-conquering Lyon side to feature among the 15 nominees, but she won out thanks to her prolific form in front of goal.

She was the top scorer with 15 goals as the French side won the Champions League for the third year running. One of her goals came in the final in Kiev in May, as Lyon came from behind to beat Wolfsburg 4-1 after extra time and retain the trophy. Harder had put the Germans in front in that game.

“I want to say thanks to my teammates because this would not have been possible without them, my coach or our president Jean-Michel Aulas,” Hegerberg said at the ceremony at the Grand Palais, just off the Champs Elysees.

“I also want to thank France Football. This is a huge step for women’s football.”

Lyon also won the French title for the 12th season in succession, with Hegerberg top-scoring with 31 goals, and she continues to bang in the goals for her team who are top of the table again this season.

Hegerberg, whose elder sister Andrine plays for Lyon’s biggest rivals in France, Paris Saint-Germain, is a Norwegian international but has not played for her country since their disappointing showing at Euro 2017 in the Netherlands.

Modric, 33, was announced as the winner of the prestigious prize in a glitzy ceremony held in Paris. Ronaldo was second, with France and Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann completing the podium.

Paris Saint-Germain’s teenage forward Kylian Mbappe came fourth, leaving Messi to settle for fifth position. Another Frenchman, Modric’s Madrid teammate Raphael Varane, was seventh, just behind Liverpool’s Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah.

“As a kid we all have dreams. My dream was to play for a big club and win important trophies,” Modric said.

“The Ballon d’Or was more than just a dream for me and it is really an honour and a privilege to hold this trophy.”

Mbappe, who does not turn 20 until later this month, picked up the consolation prize of the Kopa Trophy for the best young player.

The gala ceremony also saw a women’s Ballon d’Or named for the first time, with Lyon’s prolific Norwegian striker Ada Hegerberg taking that award.

Modric — the oldest winner since Italy’s Fabio Cannavaro, also 33, in 2006 — was crowned after an outstanding year in which he starred in the Real side that retained the Champions League before heroically helping drag his country to the final of the World Cup for the first time in their history.

Croatia lost 4-2 to France in Moscow in the final in July.

The prize comes after Modric claimed the Golden Ball for the best player at the World Cup before picking up UEFA’s prize for player of the season and FIFA’s best player award in September.

Ronaldo and Messi were among 30 nominees for the Ballon d’Or, organised by France Football magazine and which takes votes from 180 journalists from around the world.

The Portuguese star played with Modric in the Madrid side that won the Champions League before moving to Juventus in a typically prolific year, while Messi has again been outstanding with Barcelona.

The pair had won the prize five times each in the last decade but both are now in their 30s and neither stamped their authority on the World Cup.

Messi finishes outside the top three in the voting for the first time since 2006.

The World Cup was always likely to play a key role, and France had hoped to see one of their stars take the award on home soil.

– ‘Huge step’ for women’s game –

The last time a Frenchman won the Ballon d’Or came in 1998, when Zinedine Zidane was rewarded for starring as Les Bleus won that year’s World Cup.

But perhaps the lack of a single standout French candidate cleared the path for Modric — Hugo Lloris, Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante had also been in the running, as had Tottenham Hotspur and England striker Harry Kane, the World Cup’s top scorer.

“I won the Europa League and the World Cup, so it’s been a great year, but it is true that it was a little bit disappointing after I was told what the podium was,” said Griezmann.

Modric has won 14 trophies since joining Real in 2012, including four Champions Leagues. He could add to that as Real take part in the Club World Cup later this month.

A refugee at one point growing up during Croatia’s War of Independence in the 1990s, his popularity in Croatia was hit by his testimony last year during the multi-million-euro corruption trial of former Dinamo chief Zdravko Mamic.

Prosecutors charged Modric for giving false evidence, but the charges have now been dropped.

Hegerberg, 23, won the women’s prize after starring for French side Lyon as they successfully defended the Champions League title and won a 12th consecutive French title.

“I want to say thanks to my teammates because this would not have been possible without them, my coach or our president Jean-Michel Aulas,” Hegerberg said.

“I also want to thank France Football. This is a huge step for women’s football.”

In the top flight IRC Zero Class – for the slick, stripped down racing keelboats – Australian Ray Roberts and his crew on Team Hollywood managed to edge out defending champions Tom and Kevin Whitcraft on their Thai-registered boat THA 72, which was skippered by Don Whitcraft in both races.

In two closely-fought races, Team Hollywood won by narrow margins, and the two boats are expected to be engaged in some close racing right up until the final day on Saturday.

“We had a great competition in the first race, but not so good in the second race,” said defending champion Kevin Whitcraft. “We’ll have to lift our game in the coming races,” he added.

The IRC 1 Class was also a close battle for first place, with Mandrake III coming out on top overall after winning the second race. King’s Cup regulars Nick Burns and Fred Kinmonth finished third on Mandrake III in the first race, but came roaring back to take first place in the second race.

Mandrake III leads East Marine Emagine by only half a point after two races, with Loco and Aquarii tied for third place in the IRC 1 Class.

One boat that grabs the spotlight wherever it goes is the 60-foot trimaran SKH Scallywag Fuku Bid, a winner at the recent Raja Muda Regatta in Malaysia, and it did not disappoint on the Andaman Sea off Phuket on Monday.

With one of its hulls completely out of the water as it cut through the sea at high speed, leaving everything in its wake, its only real rival was its handicap. However, despite being about to hit almost 40 knots in a strong breeze, the Scallywag crew had to settle for second place on Monday behind Australian Dan Fidock’s Fugazi in the Racing Multihull Class.

Scallywag was first over the line by a country mile in both races on Monday, but Fugazi also sailed well and once the handicap was deducted from the big boat’s time, the smaller Aussie-helmed boat took the honors.

Closer to the shore, the young sailors in the dinghy classes had practices races and honed their skills on Monday in preparation for the start of their opening races on Wednesday in the waters off Kata Beach.

Youngsters from Phuket as well as Sattahip, Pattaya, Koh Phangan, Songhkla and other parts of Thailand will be contesting the Optimist Boys and Girls, Laser 4.7, Laser Radial, Laser Standard and 420 classes, some of them already champions and representatives of the country at international events.

These up-and-coming youngsters will one day be aboard the bigger boats racing further out to sea.

One of the biggest regatta fleets in Asia will take to the water again on Tuesday morning as the second day of racing gets underway in the Phuket King’s Cup, which finishes on Saturday.

There are 11 classes of keelboats and multihulls competing in this year’s regatta, which is held off its traditional base at the Beyond Resort Kata at Kata Beach.

With the Royal patronage of His Majesty the King of Thailand, the regatta is organized by the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta Organizing Committee under the auspices of the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, in conjunction with the Sports Authority of Thailand, the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand, the Royal Thai Navy and the Province of Phuket.

The game will decide which team advances to the final of the biennial tournament after their 0-0 stalemate at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

The Muang Thong United forward said the defending champions were determined to reach the final after failing to live up to expectations in the away leg – they were below and created few scoring opportunities – in front of a partisan crowd of 80,000.

“We are not thinking about anything other than winning the home game,” said the 27-year-old Adisak, who scored a record six goals in the opening match against Timor Leste, the most by any Thai in the tournament’s history.

“Last time it was tough for us to play due to the atmosphere around the stadium. Wednesday’s game will be our turn,” added the man from Buriram province.

The Kingdom’s No1 striker has so far notched eight goals in the tournament, two shy of the record  held by Indonesian Noh Alam Shah in 2007.

Setting a new record is not his priority, however.

“As of now, my main concern is to help the team win on Wednesday and reach the final. Breaking the record has never been in my mind,” Adisak said.

Although the Bangkok crowd will be less than in Kuala Lumpur due to Rajamangala’s seating capacity of 49,000, Adisak believes it will be enough to drive the War Elephants to victory.

“We will fight hard even if there are [just] 30,000-40,000 fans,” Adisak added. “We have already learned about the Malaysians’ style and who their key players are from the away game. We have no other choice but to win.”

The Thai squad trained on Monday morning at the Windmill Football Club and spent the afternoon reviewing Saturday’s game. Coach Milovan Rajevac decided to limit Monday’s training to one session since the group only returned home the night and they are due to resume on Tuesday morning.

Wednesday’s game kicks off at 7pm and will be shown live on Channel 7.

The other semi-final second-leg tie sees cock-a-hoop Vietnam host the Philippines on Thursday –– the Golden Dragons are favoured to reach the final after edging out the Azkals 2-1 in Sunday’s away leg.

Despite missing out on his breakthrough victory, the 25-year-old Indian took home his career’s biggest prize purse of US$104,364 and jumped a massive 45 spots up to 25th place on the Merit rankings, successfully keeping his card for the 2019 season.

Chikka, who won on his domestic circuit last month, had returned to Mauritius not only with an aim of putting up a fine showing to boost his Merit rankings, but also to seek redemption for himself after failing to qualify for the event last year. He was the first reserve on-site.

His intent certainly did not go unnoticed as he carded a flawless eight-under-par 64 highlighted by eight birdies to grab a share of the opening round lead by one at the picturesque Four Seasons Golf Club, Mauritius at Anahita.

He followed up with rounds of 68 and 71 to remain in contention before closing with a bogey-free round of 67, thanks to two birdies in his closing three holes, to mark his best result on the Asian Tour at the €1,000,000 (approx. US$1,140,000) event.

Chikka would finish two shots back of winner Kurt Kitayama of the United States alongside Matthieu Pavon of France with matching totals of 18-under-par 270 in the event, which is tri-sanctioned by the Asian Tour, European Tour and the Sunshine Tour.

“I’ve played to a solid finish, which was much needed. I parred the last hole to save a lot of money which helped boosted my position on the Habitat for Humanity Standings. I’m going to take the positives from last week. I can smile and say that my Asian Tour card is done now.

“I can just go and look for a win now. I’m glad to put myself in a better place (on the Merit list) as compared to last year. I’m going to South Africa and Indonesia with a bigger smile than I had this week,” said Chikka, a double-winner on the Asian Development Tour (ADT).

Asian Tour rookie Kitayama, who came through the Qualifying School earlier in January, sweetened his year with a breakthrough victory after closing with a 68 in what was his debut appearance at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.

Prior to his win, Kitayama has notched three top-five finishes in New Zealand, Thailand and Japan and did not miss a single cut in 13 starts on the Asian Tour this season. He also claimed his first ADT title in Malaysia in January.

Kitayama’s triumph at the world-renowned holiday isle would also mark his first victory in only his second start on the European Tour since making the grade at the Qualifying School in Europe last month.

“I’m just so proud, really happy. It’s an unbelievable moment for me, I’m just so happy I was able to pull it off. This whole year has been, well, what a great year! I still have two more events on the Asian Tour, but to win on one of the last few events of the year is just great.

“It’s been really exciting for me, being able to travel all over the globe and I’m going to continue to travel more. I’m really looking forward to it,” said the 25-year-old American, who propelled to eighth place on the money list following his victory.

Over in Thailand, Miguel Tabuena of the Philippines made a welcome return to the winner’s circle after closing with a four-under-par 66 to claim a three-shot victory at the Queen’s Cup hosted by Jaidee Foundation on Sunday.

The 24-year-old Filipino ended a three-year title drought after capping a winning total of 20-under-par 260 at the US$500,000 event held at the Legacy Golf Club. He took home a winner’s cheque of US$90,000 to sit in 16th place on the Merit rankings.

“I didn’t expect my second win to take this long. I am really grateful for being able to finally get the job done. I have worked hard over the past few weeks. It means the world to win a tournament hosted by an Asian legend like Thongchai Jaidee. It’s a dream come true to lift this trophy,” said Tabuena.

The top-60 players on the final Asian Tour Habitat for Humanity Standings will earn their playing rights for the 2019 season. India’s Shubhankar Sharma continues to lead with a current haul of US$755,994 while Sanghyun Park of Korea trails by about US$194,000 in second place.

South African Justin Harding, who came in fourth in Mauritius, remained in third position with earnings of US$55,638 while Gaganjeet Bhullar of India and Scott Vincent of Zimbabwe sit in fifth and sixth respectively.

The Tour will head to South Africa for the penultimate South African Open hosted by the City of Johannesburg, which gets underway at the Randpark Golf Club on Thursday.

The 2018 Asian Tour season will culminate with the highly-popular BNI Indonesian Masters which will be held at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club from December 13 to 16 next week.

Top-20 players on the Asian Tour Habitat for Humanity Standings

Pos       Player   Order of Merit (US$)

1. Shubhankar SHARMA (IND) $755,993

2. Sanghyun PARK (KOR) $561,898

3. Justin HARDING (RSA) $479,816

4. Gaganjeet BHULLAR (IND) $422,936

5. Scott VINCENT (ZIM) $420,887

6. John CATLIN (USA) $387,932

7. Sihwan KIM (USA) $373,008

8. Kurt KITAYAMA (USA) $352,711

9. Yuta IKEDA (JPN) $338,671

10. Rahil GANGJEE (IND) $302,628

11. Minchel CHOI (KOR) $286,555

12. Jazz JANEWATTANANOND (THA) $284,808

13. Berry HENSON (USA) $283,701

14. Adilson DA SILVA (BRA) $250,729

15. Paul PETERSON (USA) $244,888

16. Miguel TABUENA (PHI) $232,852

17. Khalin JOSHI (IND) $226,432

18. Shaun NORRIS (RSA) $201,156

19. Prom MEESAWAT (THA) $189,611

20. Yikeun CHANG (KOR) $183,829

Jurgen Klopp’s unbeaten side looked set to drop a precious two points in their dogged pursuit of City but they benefited from a bizarre error from Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford to win 1-0 and continue their Anfield hex over their city rivals.

Unai Emery’s Arsenal are now 19 matches unbeaten in all competitions after their thrilling 4-2 victory against Tottenham at the Emirates lifted them to fourth, above fierce rivals Spurs on goal difference.

Chelsea recovered from the disappointment of losing their first match of the Premier League season to Spurs last week to beat Fulham 2-0 and climb to third in the table.

Liverpool started the Merseyside derby determined to salvage some pride after their midweek defeat to Paris Saint-Germain left their Champions League hopes in the balance.

There were chances for both teams in an entertaining encounter but the match appeared to be heading for a goalless stalemate as the seconds ticked away.

But then out of nowhere, England’s Pickford made a terrible error.

He misjudged a looping, miskicked shot from Virgil Van Dijk, appearing to push the ball upwards before it bounced on top of the bar and into the path of substitute Divock Origi.

The Belgium forward had the simple task of heading into the empty net to spark scenes of ecstasy at Anfield, with Klopp racing onto the pitch to celebrate.

Pickford apologised for his blunder but gave a different version of events.

“The ball spun and as I tried to flick it over, my hand hit the bar,” he said. “I think it is the Everton luck when we come to Anfield.”

Klopp apologised on TV for his celebrations and also explained he had said sorry to his opposite number Marco Silva after the win, which closes the gap to City to just two points.

“What can I say about it? I didn’t want to run,” said Klopp. “It was not in my plan. I didn’t want to run to Ali (goalkeeper Alisson), I couldn’t stop obviously. Not cool, but it happened.”

Silva disputed Klopp’s version of events, however. “He didn’t apologise to me,” he said. “To be honest, I didn’t see so I don’t know what he did and how he did it.”

– Arsenal guts –

Earlier, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s penalty gave Arsenal an early lead in the north London derby before Eric Dier’s header and a Harry Kane spot-kick handed Tottenham the lead at half-time at the Emirates Stadium.

But Aubameyang’s superb long-range equaliser sparked a second half surge from the Gunners. Alexandre Lacazette came off the bench to put Arsenal ahead and Lucas Torreira sealed the points with his first goal for the club.

Capping a miserable day for Jan Vertonghen, the Tottenham defender was sent off in the closing stages after earlier giving away Arsenal’s penalty.

“It is a very big match for our confidence. Now we have to continue our process,” Emery said. “It is a very big victory. We give this to our supporters because it’s a very special match against Tottenham.”

Emery has injected life into an Arsenal side that had stagnated in the final years of Arsene Wenger’s reign but losses to Manchester City and Chelsea and a draw with Liverpool had raised questions about the team’s ability to compete with their biggest rivals.

In the first match of the day, a nervy Chelsea scored early through Pedro and late through Ruben Loftus-Cheek to see off London neighbours Fulham.

Sarri said he could see tension in his players at Stamford Bridge, even though last week’s defeat at Spurs was their first loss in the league this season.

On Saturday, Manchester United dropped points in a 2-2 draw against struggling Southampton and are now eight points off fourth place, still with a negative goal difference.

Jose Mourinho’s United host Arsenal on Wednesday knowing they cannot afford to lose as their chances of qualifying for next season’s Champions League look increasingly remote.

City beat Bournemouth 3-1 to move to record their 12th win in 14 matches, with 38 points in the bag already and a goal difference of +37.

The Germans were the most dangerous team in the second pot of seeds having been relegated from the top tier of the Nations League, in part due to a 3-0 defeat to the Dutch in October.

Germany open their campaign by travelling to the Netherlands on March 24 before hosting their neighbours on September 6.

Northern Ireland, Estonia and Belarus are the sides tasked with causing a huge upset in Group C.

However, with the top two teams in each of the 10 groups qualifying automatically for the 24-team tournament, which will be held for the first time across 12 different host countries, there is little prospect of any leading nation missing out.

The remaining four places will be allocated via the Nations League play-offs.

“The group is typically tough,” said Germany head coach Joachim Loew, who is under pressure to bounce back after also crashing out at the group stage of the World Cup.

“The Netherlands and Germany are the favourites, but it should be enough for both (to go through).”

A young Netherlands side are improving under Ronald Koeman after failing to qualify for both Euro 2016 and this year’s World Cup. And with Amsterdam one of the host cities, Koeman insisted qualifying rather than claiming another victory over Germany is his priority.

“If you look back how it was one year ago and how the public were with the national team, it is totally different at this stage,” said Koeman, who has led the Netherlands to the final four of the Nations League.

– England expects –

The semi-finals and final will be played at Wembley, handing England a major incentive to win the European Championship for the first time after their run to the last four at this year’s World Cup.

There is little for Gareth Southgate’s side to fear in Group A as after starting with a home game against the Czech Republic on March 22, England also face Bulgaria, Montenegro and Kosovo.

But Southgate called on his team to get used to dealing with high expectations.

“Once you are seeded then inevitably the draw is one you should be in charge of,” said Southgate.

“It’s up to us. We’re favourites and that’s something we’ve got to get used to anyway.

“We have high expectations over the next few years and adapting to that is probably key to our development as a team now.”

World Cup winners France will meet Iceland and Albania, who they beat on their way to the Euro 2016 final, as well as Turkey, Moldova and Andorra in Group H.

“It could have been better, it could have been worse,” said France coach Didier Deschamps.

“For every country playing France, the world champions, it is obviously an honour for them.”

Belgium and Russia lead the way in a tough-looking group for Scotland alongside Cyprus, Kazakhstan and San Marino in Group I.

Portugal will be confident of having the chance to defend their title despite some tricky trips to Ukraine, Serbia, Lithuania and Luxembourg.

Spain will look to bounce back from a disappointing end to their Nations League campaign in what should be a comfortable section for the three-time European champions with Sweden, Norway, Romania, the Faroe Islands and Malta.

“On paper you can think we are favourites but we need to show that where it’s difficult, on the pitch,” said Spain coach Luis Enrique.

The draw hosts Republic of Ireland benefited from a rule that only two of the 12 hosts for the final tournament could be drawn in the same qualifying group as they avoided the Netherlands and Germany. Neighbours Northern Ireland took their place.

Instead, new Republic manager Mick McCarthy will meet Switzerland and Denmark in Group D as well as Georgia and Gibraltar.

Gareth Bale will clash with Real Madrid team-mate Luka Modric as Wales take on World Cup runners-up Croatia in Group E alongside Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan.

The qualifiers begin in March, with the final round of games in November 2019.

The 25-year-old Kitayama went into the fourth round with a share of the lead. He has never been in a similar position on the Asian Tour this season but he showed no sign of nerves, establishing the pace early in the day by making birdie-eagle-birdie from holes two to four at the Four Seasons Golf Club, Mauritius at Anahita.

With that, Kitayama went into the outright lead and held it for the rest of the day. The 2018 Asian Tour Qualifying School graduate gave the chasing pack a glimmer of hope when he bogeyed the 16th, but he recovered with a birdie on the following before signing for a winning total of 20-under-par 268 total.

Kitayama earned a winner’s cheque of US$179,607 and moved into the top-10 of the Asian Tour Habitat for Humanity Standings.

India’s Chikkarangappa S. has also given his position on the merit list a significant boost after grabbing a share of second place with Frenchman Matthieu Pavon, and earning US$104,365. He has virtually secured his Tour card for the 2019 season.

Chikkarangappa finished the way he started the tournament – bogey-free. He showed his raw emotions on the 16th after making a difficult birdie and carried the momentum to the following hole. A difficult par save on the 18th ensured that he maintained his tied-second position.

Justin Harding of South Africa was gunning for his third victory on the Asian Tour but had to contend with a fourth-place finish in Mauritius. The 32-year-old brought his terrific form from yesterday into his final round, evident from his birdies on second and fourth.

However, his title bid took a drastic turn after consecutive bogeys on holes six and seven. He admittedly struggled for the rest of the day and could not find that extra gear to bring him back up the leaderboard.

Nevertheless, Harding managed to close the gap on leader Shubhankar Sharma on the Asian Tour Habitat for Humanity Standings after earning US$55,639 at the AfrAsia Mauritius Open.

SHARP-SHOOTING Miguel Tabuena produced a splendid back nine performance to card a final-round 66, beating American Johannes Veerman for his second Asian Tour win in the US$500,000 Queen’s Cup presented by the Thongchai Jaidee Foundation yesterday.

The 24-year-old from Manila, who was fifth in the previous edition four months ago in Chon Buri, recovered from an opening bogey to generate five birdies, four on the last six holes, to end at 20-under 260 at the par-70 Legacy Golf Club on the outskirts of Bangkok.

Tabuena also ended a three-year title drought stretching back to his maiden triumph on home soil at the Philippine Open in 2015.

“I did not get off to a good start, bogeying the first hole. It took a lot of digging and scrambling, because the guys were relentless all day,” said the Filipino, who recovered from last week in Hong Kong where he missed the cut.

“On this course you need to keep making birdies because they [rivals] will eventually catch up. I wasn’t happy when I made the turn at even-par. But I am happy with how I came back strong on the back nine with four birdies,” said Tabuena, who returns to Manila US$90,000 richer and sporting a Bt500,000 Carl E Bucherer watch on his wrist.

“I didn’t expect it to take this long [to win a second title]. I am really grateful for being able to finally get the job done. I have worked so hard over the past few weeks with my coach and, when I missed the cut last week, I told myself to trust the process and it will eventually be worth it.”

Veerman, 26, also shot a 66 but without an error to finish lone second on 17-under 263. He was once again forced to wait for his first Tour title after also finishing second last year in the Yeander Tournament Players Championship in Taiwan.

“ I played really solid all week. I left a lot of putts short today, so that’s going to come back to haunt me. But I have so many positives to take away from this week. Hats off to Miguel [Tabuena]. He played really well this week,” said the American-Indonesian, winner of the Asian Development Tour Order of Merit in 2016. He earned US$55,000 as runner-up.

Defending champion Jazz Janewattananond started the round two shots behind Tabuena but fought valiantly to be breathing down his neck with after straight birdies on holes 11-13. But the two-time Tour winner was unable to match the putting accuracy of his rival on the final holes.

“I was a bit under pressure but I have to deal with it better in the future. This is only my second event after I adjusted my swing last month, and I didn’t know what was going to happen coming here from Hong Kong where I missed the cut,” said the 23-year-old young gun.

In lone fourth was Natipong Srithong, who closed out with an even-par round for a total 267. Countryman Chapchai Nirat shot the day’s lowest score with a 65 and followed one stroke behind on 268.

Former Thai No 1 Thongchai will host his next event, an ADT tournament, at his hometown in Lopburi from February 14-17.

Five-time champions Thailand were kept at bay by Malaysia’s aggressive play in front of 87,000 fans at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, the match ending 0-0.

The Thais once again failed to post a win over their neighbours on this pitch, having lost all three previous AFF Cup encounters to the hosts here.

Thailand were widely criticised for performing below par as the defending champions and top-ranked team in the region. But the 29-year-old Welsh-Thai Bangkok United right-back reckons a draw leaves the War elephants well poised for the home game on December 5. “There’s no damage with the draw,” said Mika, who made the first team for the second consecutive game after playing the final Group B match against Singapore. “Our goal was not to lose the game ahead of the semi-final at home. It’s just a shame that we didn’t get an away goal. But it was really tough to play Malaysia at their home,” said Mika, who played with the Cardiff City youth team from 2005-07.

Thailand coach Milovan Rajevac said the condition of the grass and the huge turnout at Bukit Jalil had put his players off their stride, but Mika offered a different view. “Even if there are more than a hundred thousand fans, in the end it’s 11 players against 11 players. We knew Malaysia would play a hard game, which made it tough for our defenders. We could have counter-attacked better but we didn’t play our game as much as we should have.”

Thailand host Malaysia on Wednesday at 7pm at the Rajamangala National Stadium, in a game televised live on Channel 7. The Thais lead Malaysia in the tournament head-to-head record with six wins, four draws and three defeats.

“I’d love to see them play an attacking game again, as this time things should go our way thanks to home advantage and especially the support of our fans. I hope they show up in huge numbers, just like in Malaysia, to cheer us on. … I think we can pull it off,” Mika said.