PETALING JAYA: National football coach Peter Cklamovski (pic) has refused to call the 0-3 defeat to Cape Verde in a closed-door friendly on Tuesday as a failure.

After holding Cape Verde 1-1 at the Cheras Football Stadium on May 29, some quarters have come up to say that Harimau Malaya were humbled by the African nation team in their second friendly.

Cklamovski explained that it was a training match to provide valuable minutes for several players who have not played for weeks.

“With some of them having gone nearly six weeks without competitive football, this training match served a key purpose – providing minutes across the entire squad to focus on match sharpness, conditioning, and improve physical intensity, said Cklamovski.

“The match was played in 3×30-minute periods to ensure all players saw action – an important part of the national team’s build-up to the 2027 Asian Cup third-round qualifier against Vietnam on June 10.”

In the closed-door friendly on Tuesday, Cape Verde striker Dailon Livramento, who plies his trade for Serie A club Verona, was the hero, scoring two goals in the 35th and 48th minutes.

The other goal was scored by Heriberto Tavares in the 55th minute. Tavares also plays in Europe for Israeli club Maccabi Netanya.