BY ZULHILMI ZAINAL Follow on Twitter
Selangor were triumphant in the Sultan of Selangor's Cup on Saturday, after all three sides defeated their Singapore counterparts on Saturday.
The Selangor Selection side were composed mostly of PKNS FC players, with the inclusion of three Selangor FA stars Rufino Segovia, Amri Yahyah and Razman Roslan. All three started the match, alongside temporary teammates Nik Azim Abd Halim, Gurusamy Govandar, Zac Anderson, P. Gunalan, Romel Morales, Shahril Sa'ari, and Mahalli Jasuli and Faris Ramli. Their head coach was PKNS' Rajagobal Krishnasamy.
Singapore Selection meanwhile started with the best players that the Singapore Premier League side has to offer; Zaiful Nizam Abdullah, Fadli Kamis, Huzaifah Aziz (Balestier Khalsa), Kento Fukuda (Geylang International), Hafiz Sujad, Yasir Hanapi, Irfan Najeeb (Tampines Rovers), Shuhei Hoshino, Wataru Murofushi, Adam Swandi (Albirex Niigata Singapore), and Iqbal Hamid Hussain (Hougang United). They were led by legendary ex-Singapore international Noh Alam Shah.
But it did not take long for the first goal to be scored, in the 9th minute. The Selangor defence's failure to contain Shuhei Hoshino was taken advantage of by forward Hoshino, who managed to break free from two defender's pressure before slotting the ball past goalkeeper Shahril.
However, the hosts equalised just six minutes later; through Super League top scorer Rufino. Amri launched a freekick to the left of the visitors' penalty area, and the Spaniard leapt the highest to send a header over Balestier Khalsa custodian Zaiful Nizam Abdullah and in, near the far post.
Selangor Selection then dominated the game, but could not end the first half with a lead.
At the stroke of the hour, Rajagobal took off Anderson for PKNS winger Faris Ramli. Faris in particular is an oddity; he is the first Singaporean to feature for Selangor Selection in the competition's history. Last year he made his first appearance in the competition, for Singapore Selection. The Singapore international almost scored two minutes after his introduction, if not for Zaiful's confident goalkeeping.
In the 75th minute Hoshino looked to have been fouled inside the Selangor box after receiving a pinpoint pass, but referee Sivakorn Pu Udom awarded no penalty.
The match ended tied at 1-1, and penalty shootout was required.
In the shootout, Irfan Najeeb sent a weak penalty that Shahril guessed correctly, and that was enough to give the hosts the win, with Singaporean Faris Ramli slotting in Selangor Selection's final penalty.
Earlier in the evening, the match between their U-16 sides ended in a 2-0 win to the hosts, while the Selangor veteran side beat their Singapore counterpart, also on penalties.
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