BY ZULHILMI ZAINAL Follow on Twitter
The exhibition match between Malaysia XI and Tottenham Hotspur took place on Wednesday, with just under 30,000 fans in attendance. The match began with the visitors, who had just finished their final English Premier League match last Sunday, starting star striker Harry Kane, along with Danny Rose, Jan Vertonghen, Andros Townsend, Benjamin Stambouli and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
The hosts meanwhile started with foreign players Robert Cornthwaite, Ali Ashfaq, Paulo Rangel, Juninho and Guilherme De Paula. Meanwhile local players who started the game were young Perak star Nasir Basharuddin, Sarawak's Ronny Harun and Joseph Kalang Tie, Felda's Indra Putra, Terengganu's Zubir Azmi and Kelantan keeper Khairul Fahmi.
In the sixth minute, Joseph Kalang Tie's freekick from the right almost found De Paula's head, but Lloris was quicker to it. Three minutes later, Kane tried to curl a free kick past Fahmi, but his attempt didn't have enough bend or power.
In the 12th minute, Kane tried again from outside the box, and again Fahmi denied him. None of Kane's teammates were quick enough to pounce on the rebound.
Kane then showed his teammates how to not fall asleep in front of the goalmouth, pouncing on Christian Eriksen's blocked shot in the penalty area in the 18th minute.
Just four minutes later Rangel thought he'd equalised when he latched on to a Kalang Tie through ball and beat Lloris, but referee Amirul Izwan disallowed the goal, adjudging him to have been in an offside position.
But Malaysia XI found the equaliser 10 minutes later through a Thiago goal, whose angled headed from an Indra freekick from the left beat a diving Lloris.
In the 38th minute Rangel tried from outside the box with a stinging shot, but Lloris never took his eyes off the ball and made the save.
Four minutes from the halftime whistle, Ali did well to beat a Tottenham defender, but his subsequent pass to Rangel who was waiting near the far post was a little too far away from the Brazilian.
A minute later, Spurs retook the lead through Kane again when a deflected pass fell fortuitously in his path in the penalty area, and he smashed his first-time strike past the Malaysia national team goalkeeper.
Indra almost found a quick equaliser a minute after that, but his freekick was tipped over the bar by Lloris as Spurs took a 2-1 lead into the break.
In the 56th minute Erik Lamela, who came in at the start of the second half, rounded Fahmi but took too long to take his shot.
The multiple substitutions by Spurs, made mainly to give their youngsters some playing time, took its toll on the game as the tempo slowed, and chances by both sides trickled. Malaysia XI's substitutions too did little to improve their play or the game in overall.
Ten minutes from the end of regulation time, Rangel tried curling in a freekick past substitute Tottenham keeper Michel Vorm, but his attempt was too close to the Dutchman.
Just before the whistle, Harry Winks tried to beat Malaysia XI substitute goalkeeper Zamir Selamat, but his attempt sailed over the crossbar.
The match finished a far-than-spirited 2-1 win to the visitors, who will now make their way to Australia for the second leg of their post-season South Pacific promotional tour.