Arif Aiman twice gave the Malaysians the lead only to see Gustavo and Popp cancel out both strikes to leave the two teams frustrated as the points were shared in the eastern side of the tournament’s league phase.
Port coach Muscat was forced into making a late change to his starting line-up, replacing Zhang Linpeng with Jiang Guangtai after the veteran China PR international defender was injured in the warm-up.
Matheus Vargas had an early sight of goal, the Argentinian charging through the centre unopposed to thump a right-footed shot that only narrowly missed the top corner of Andoni Zubiaurre
JDT sought to frustrate the home side but Muscat’s team were still able to find their way through, Oscar to the fore as he played a slide-rule pass into the area for Leo Cittadini but the Brazilian dragged his attempt across the face of goal.
Yan Junling had to be alert at the other end in the 32nd minute when he was called upon to push away Juan Muniz’s swerving free-kick from distance but, with moments left in the half, the China PR international could do little about JDT’s opener..
