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Malaysia Held By Japanese S-League Club
Coach Rajagobal unperturbed by the result...
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Mar 8, 2010 8:07:00 PM
By Khairi Rizal, Shamim Imran & Izan Suleiman
Malaysia ended the first phase of preparations towards the Asian Games (Under-23) in Guangzhou, China later in November, and the Asean Football Federation Cup (Suzuki Cup, formerly known as the Tiger Cup) in December, on a mixed note, when they were held to a scoreless draw at Alibirex Niigata in Singapore.
After successfully beating a higher ranked side, Yemen, last weekend, the national team struggled in front of goal, but enjoyed more possession against the Japanese side who are currently bottom of the S-League standings.
However, speaking to local dailies, coach K. Rajagobal deemed the result was good enough and was satisfied despite failing to score, saying that he honestly thought the Tigers deserved to win.
"We wasted some good chances and we should have won. If only we had stepped up a gear, especially in the closing stages, things would have turned out differently, but never mind, I want to look at the positive side of the match and that is, we had a good workout against some promising Japanese players who wanted to prove themselves against a national side.
"My objective was to test out the new faces, and I managed to do so, with all of them, somewhat featuring in either or both of the matches," said Rajagobal, referring to new call-up’s Abdul Hadi, Khairul Helmi, Yong Kuong Yong, Alif Samsudin, S.Chanturu, Faizal Abu Bakar and Muhamin Omar.
The J-League Albirex whose satellite team have been part of the island republic’s professional set-up since 2004, kicked off looking the hungrier of the two sides in the early exchanges, though they found stand-in skipper Norhafiz Zamani, in central defence, in an uncompromising mood.
The Malaysian attack led by Zaquan Adha and Fakri Saarani were guilty of squandering clear-cut chances in either half, especially the best opportunity that came their way in the 70th minute, in a period which they were largely dominating, when Zaquan narrowly missed a gilt-edged opportunity to score the winner, with the Albirex goalkeeper already beaten.
The national team reassemble on March 22 for the second phase of preparations towards the end year targets, where they will play Thailand in Bangkok, five days later. Without doubt, that will be the toughest test for Rajagobal’s side.
After successfully beating a higher ranked side, Yemen, last weekend, the national team struggled in front of goal, but enjoyed more possession against the Japanese side who are currently bottom of the S-League standings.
However, speaking to local dailies, coach K. Rajagobal deemed the result was good enough and was satisfied despite failing to score, saying that he honestly thought the Tigers deserved to win.
"We wasted some good chances and we should have won. If only we had stepped up a gear, especially in the closing stages, things would have turned out differently, but never mind, I want to look at the positive side of the match and that is, we had a good workout against some promising Japanese players who wanted to prove themselves against a national side.
"My objective was to test out the new faces, and I managed to do so, with all of them, somewhat featuring in either or both of the matches," said Rajagobal, referring to new call-up’s Abdul Hadi, Khairul Helmi, Yong Kuong Yong, Alif Samsudin, S.Chanturu, Faizal Abu Bakar and Muhamin Omar.
The J-League Albirex whose satellite team have been part of the island republic’s professional set-up since 2004, kicked off looking the hungrier of the two sides in the early exchanges, though they found stand-in skipper Norhafiz Zamani, in central defence, in an uncompromising mood.
The Malaysian attack led by Zaquan Adha and Fakri Saarani were guilty of squandering clear-cut chances in either half, especially the best opportunity that came their way in the 70th minute, in a period which they were largely dominating, when Zaquan narrowly missed a gilt-edged opportunity to score the winner, with the Albirex goalkeeper already beaten.
The national team reassemble on March 22 for the second phase of preparations towards the end year targets, where they will play Thailand in Bangkok, five days later. Without doubt, that will be the toughest test for Rajagobal’s side.
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