KUALA LUMPUR: The road was a tough one for Malaysia to get to the semi-finals, where they face a surging Thailand for a spot in the finals of Southeast Asia's football championships, or Suzuki Cup. Malaysia lost to Singapore 3-0 to open their title defense, but rebounded with strong showings against Myanmar and Indonesia to advance to the final four. Up next, however are the War Elephants, and Malaysian fans are not convinced their team will have the strength to get past, but remain hopeful. “We will watch and we will cheer our team on, but right now it is not where we want to be,” William Cho, an avid football fan and computer engineer in Kuala Lumpur, told Bikyamasr.com. “Football brings us all together as Malaysians and we are excited to see what happens.” But Thailand has been near flawless in their arrival in the semi-finals, edged the Philippines 2-1, thumped qualifiers Myanmar 4-0 and then dismissed Vietnam 3-1 during their Group A games in Bangkok. But that is all irrelevant now, with two matches waiting between either side and a trip to the finals.