Monday, 22 June 2015

MALAYSIA BEGIN WITH A WIN OVER CHINA

Malaysia defeated China 3-2 in their first match of the FIH World Hockey League semi-final round at the KHC Dragons Stadium in Antwerp, Belgium.

In this Group B match, Tan Beng Hai's boys took the lead through Faizal Saari reverse stick shot after 18 minutes. Muhammad Haziq then doubled Malaysia lead at the end of the second quarter.

China reduced the deficit in the third quarter through Guo Xiaoping and could have equalised through a penalty stroke but Malaysian players requested for the incident to be reviewed and the umpires cancelled the decision.

Malaysia skipper, Razie Rahim scored the third goal inn the final quarter but a lapse of concentration allowed China to score again a minute later.

The Speedy Tigers however held on to register a win on their opening match. Next they will face Ireland on 25 June.

Sunday, 17 May 2015

CROWD TROUBLE AS TURTLES GO OUT ON AWAY GOALS

Terengganu fans ran amok last night after their team was knocked out by the Lions XII who despite losing the match 3-2 went through to the FA Cup final on away goals rule.

Having lost 2-1 in Singapore last week, Abdul Rahman Ibrahim's boys only needed to win 1-0 to win using the rule themselves but it did not happen according to plan.

Instead, the Lions were the one that managed to score first when Khairul Amri managed to win the ball in an aerial duel with Vincent Bikana before rounding Sharbinee Allawee and slotting the ball home.

With no more advantage to them, Terengganu players knew they have to attack. It paid off in the 22nd minute when Paolo Rangel beat Izwan Mahbud with a looping header from a good cross from Issey Nakajima.

Five minutes later the visitors restored their lead when Khairul Amri rasping drive went past Sharbinee after Bikana could only partially cleared a free-kick that was lobbed into the box.

It was a disaster for Terengganu and in order for them to go through they need to score three more goals. To make things harder, Nakajima had to go off when he suffered a recurrence of the injury that kept him out of the first leg.

As the match went into added time at the end of the first half Muhamad Safuwan fouled Rangel inside the penalty area and referee, Amirul Izwan immediately pointed to the spot.

Rangel picked himself up and Izwan Mahbud was beaten for the second time during the match. With the score at 2-2, the advantage was still with the Lions as the players trooped off to the dressing room at the end of the first half.

On the hour mark Terengganu got themselves closer to their mission after Norshahrul Idlan Talaha scored with an acrobatic kick. An initial attempt by Ahmad Nordin Alias was blocked by a Lion defender but Norshahrul reacted first to score his first goal for The Turtles.

At 3-2 Terengganu only needed one more goal to go through and the thirty thousand plus spectators were urging them on. However the Lions' defence stood firm.

Then as it entered the last few minutes of the match Terengganu forced a number of corners and from one of them they managed to get the ball into the net and the stadium erupted with joy.

However their joy was short-lived when the referee assistant raised his flag indicating that Ahmad Nordin who got the last touch of the ball was in an offside position.

The goal was not to be counted and during the following commotion, the referee flashed the red card to Rangel for behaving aggressively while protesting the decision.

A few minutes later, Gustavo Lopez followed his team-mate into the dressing room when he was shown a second yellow card for dissent and The Turtles' FA Cup dream was as good as over.

The fans then began to take their frustration on the police and the trouble lasted for more than five hours before the authorities managed to disperse the crowd.

Saturday, 9 May 2015

SLIM ADVANTAGE TO THE LIONS

The Lions XII will take a slim advantage to Kuala Terengganu in a week time after they defeated the east coast side 2-1 in the first leg of the 2015 FA Cup semi-final at the Jalan Besar Stadium tonight.

Fandi Ahmad boys who thrived on the surface of the articial turf displayed their usual fast attacking football and tested Terengganu goalkeeper, Sharbinee Allawee on a number of occasions.

Gabriel Quok was the main threat for the home side, pulling the strings for the likes of Faris Ramli and Khairul Nizam.

It was the winger's free-kick that put Lions XII ahead in the 30th minute after the awkward bounce deceived Sharbinee and Khairul Nizam took full advantage by slotting the ball home.

Four minutes later they made it two when Faris made full use of his speed to get past the Terengganu defence after receiving a pass from Nazrul Nazari.

However, Gustavo Lopez free-kick in the 37th minute saw The Turtles scoring an important away goal that could turn out to be crucial when the team meet again in a week time.

The home side tied hard to add to their tally but Sharbinee played a blinder and kept out most of the attempts on his goal and on the few occasions he was beaten, lady luck smiled at him as the woodwork came to his rescue.

Friday, 8 May 2015

PRESENT MALAYSIAN LEAGUE FORMAT RETAINED FOR 2016

The Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP) the organiser of the Malaysian League beginning in season 2016 announced that the number of teams participating in the top two tiers will remain unchanged.


Thus both the Super League and the Premier League will see twelve teams playing each other twice in a round robin format.

Chief Executive Officer of the FMLLP, Kevin Ramalinggam said additional teams will see the fixtures will be more congested.

The FMLLP will be the one responsible to oversee the running of the Malaysian League through another body called The League Congress which will also be responsible to uphold the league policies.

The League Congress will see the Malaysian League teams as partners, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) as the managing partner while FMLLP will act as special partner.

Wednesday, 6 May 2015

PAHANG GO TOP

Pahang continued their fine form with another win last night against Perak.

The 1-0 win was Pahang was their fourth in succession and saw them climbed to the top of the Super League, two points clear of The Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) and Johor Darul Takzim (JDT).

Matian Conti scored the all important goal via a spot kick in the 72nd minute.

The penalty came after the referee had spotted a handball offence in the penalty area as Pahang striker, Dickson Nwaekame tried to square the ball to his team-mates.

It was Perak first away defeat this season and the defeat saw them dropped to fifth place, the spot previously occupied by The Elephants.

Sunday, 19 April 2015

NO DEBUT JOY FOR NORSHAHRUL

Norshahrul Idlan Talaha first match in the white and black colours of Terengganu did not end well after Felda United won the Super League match in Kuala Terengganu 3-1.


However his partnership with Paolo Rangel show promises to become a deadly one if given time when Norshahrul laid an assist for the Brazilian to score his first goal from open play since early March.

In fact with more playing time together they could build a good understanding not just between themselves but with other attacking players such as Issey Nakajima, Abdul Manaf Mamat and Ismail Faruqi.

The defeat came as many Terengganu fans were expecting a win due to the presence of Norshahrul in the Terengganu squad.

Felda United were tied with Terengganu in second place of the Super League table but the win enabled them to make it their own.

They took the lead almost against the run of play when a Shukor Adan near post header was parried by Sharbinee Allawee but Shamim Yahya was on hand to slot the loose ball home.

The visitors could have doubled the lead when their quick counter-attack say Mekeche Ndumba hitting the bar with a stiff shot. It was clearly over the line but the referee was too far away and his assistant was no help either.

Terengganu came out strongly in the second half and finally found the equaliser when Norshahrul broke through on the right before delivering a cross that was headed home by Rangel for his sixth goal of the season.

It should have been the catalyst for The Turtles to turn the match around. 

However they lost influential midfielder, Ismail Faruqi to an injury from a reckless tackle by a Felda United player that went unpunished by the referee.

They created a number of chances that saw both Gustavo Lopez and Issey Nakajima went close but Farizal Harun was not to be beaten again tonight.

Instead it was his counterpart, Sharbinee who conceded two more goals as Felda United capitalised on Terengganu injury woes and below par performance.
 
Azlan Zainal who had been shaky all night long was finally taken off with Zairo Anuar coming on. Helmi Remeli took over as Vincent Bikana partner and Nordin Alias moved to right back.

Unfortunately, this was where Felda United broke through with their new signing, Christie Jayaselan got the better of Nordin and sent in a low cross which was turned into the net by Ndumba with ten minutes to go.

Three minutes later it got worse for The Turtles when Rangel misplaced a header and Felda United launched a quick counter-attack which in the end saw Zahan Ran putting his team 3-1 up.

The score remained until the final whistle.

Friday, 17 April 2015

TADJIEV KEEN TO CONTINUE SCORING STREAK

Farhod Tadjiev is looking to continue his scoring streak that has seen him finding the back of the net for T-Team Titans on ten occasions since breaking the duck against the Armed Forces (ATM) on the last day of February.

The Uzbek national cannot stop scoring at the moment and his latest double against DRB Hicom last Friday was the sixth match in succession that saw him scoring.

Tadjiev so far had amassed ten goals in all competitions and he is looking forward to add to the tally tonight when The Titans host UiTM FC at the Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium in the Premier League.

However it would not be an easy ride but against The Dragons one cannot expect which side would turn up tonight.

They have been inconsistent so far this season with wins over big name such as Sabah as one of their four wins this season but already suffered three defeats.

To put things in perspective, they are just two points behind The Titans and an upset in Kuala Terengganu would see them leapfrogging the home side though for many pundits it is an unlikely scenario.

Any slip up by the leaders would see Pulau Pinang or Sabah nudging ahead depending on the result between the sides which would meet in Likas the same evening.

Both Kedah and Negeri Sembilan could capitalise on any slip ups by the leaders as both teams are now just two and three points adrift respectively behind T-Team.