Right...

...to the Wire!

As a Ganuan mad redo1 was hoping to see Terengganu winning their maiden Super League title this season. However, prior to the kick-off of the last round of matches in the 2011 Super League season, he realised that The Turtles only had a small percentage of chances of doing that.

Three points behind leaders Kelantan and two behind Selangor the only way the Super League title coming to Kuala Terengganu was by hoping Saba

h to win against The Stags and Selangor were unable to get a win in Ipoh against Perak. Terengganu also needed to do their part of the bargain by winning big against Felda United at Kelana Jaya.

How mad redo1 wished he could be there to capture the moment but it was the Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium for him to cover the T-Team versus Kuala Lumpur match.

With the Terengganu club side already assured of their place in the Super League, the match was more significant for the City Boys who were third from bottom and needed to get at least a draw in Kuala Terengganu.

Thus it was no surprise when they raced to a two goal lead in the first half through Mohamad Badrul Hisyam Azmi. However Indra Putra Mahyuddin reduced the deficit towards the end of the period through a header from a corner.

In the second half Kuala Lumpur restored their two goal lead when Badrul completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot, even though T-Team goalkeeper, Ismail Abdul Rahman managed to save the initial kick the striker maintained his cool and slotted the ball past the goalkeeper, whose error gifted Kuala Lumpur their second goal in the first half.

Substitute Shamsul Kamal made the scoreline 3-2 towards the end of the match and despite some late pressure T-Team could not find their way past Kuala Lumpur defence again, condemning them to the thirteenth defeat of the season.

Meanwhile in Kelana Jaya, Terengganu raced to a 4-1 half-time lead with goals coming from Reeshafiq Alwi, Abdul Manaf Mamat and a brace by Abdul Hadi Yahya. However news coming in from Kota Kinabalu were not that rosy as The Stags had taken the lead against Sabah.

It turned out that tonight was not just about the race to become the 2011 league champions but also the race to win the golden boot. Malaysian internationals Hadi of Terengganu and Kelantan's Norshahrul Idlan Talaha were neck to neck to become 2011 topscorer, an award won by Terengganu's Ashaari Shamsuddin in 2010.

Then in the second half, Hadi found something extra and found the Felda United's net twice to make it twenty goals to his name and ensuring the golden boot would make its way to Terengganu again.

At the end of the night, The Turtles could not overhaul The Stags which were crowned as Super League Champions for the first time while Terengganu finished in their highest ever position since the start of the Super League, as runners-up which was an improvement from last season's third place. Selangor finished third after being held to a goal-less draw by Perak.

The immediate attention for Malaysian football fans would be the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers against Singapore on the 21 and 28 of July. Then it will be a break for Ramadhan before the Malaysia Cup tournament begin a week after Aidil-Fitri in September.

To Terengganu, CONGRATULATIONS FOR A GOOD SEASON!

...

Away Goals...

...Rule for the Tigers.

It was an awkward time for us in Malaysia to watch the second leg of the 2014 World Cup Qualifying first round match against Chinese Taipei. The kick-off was merely twenty minutes before the obligatory Maghrib prayers.

mad redo1 decided to have his dinner first with the family at Batu Buruk and watch the second half at the pre-arranged spot of The 2 Cafe at Jalan Pejabat. But the good guys at Yee Stall switched the channel to TV2 which carried the match 'live'. With his brother in law, Epie joining him, they decided to stay for the fist half.

Malaysia were already defending a free-kick at that moment but it did not bring any fruition to the home side. Then up to the other side, Dato' Rajagobal's men won themselves a free-kick of their own, but it was more than 30 metres away. In my so called 'expert' opinion it would take something special for any player to score from that distance.

The next minute this 'expert' was jumping with joy as Aidil Zafuan Abdul Razak's nestled at the back of the Taiwan's net. It was quite surreal watching the flight of the ball which hit the top corner of the goal before going in.

It was a goal that should have killed the match as Malaysia had their own away goal, meaning Taiwan had to score twice to tie the match, and three goals to ensure their passage into the next round.

Nearing the half hour mark, Norshahrul Idlan Talaha should have sealed the Tigers' berth in the second round. Unfortunately, the Kelantan top-scorer who was unmarked as Amirulhadi Zainal delivered his cutback skied his shot when it seemed easier to score for the player of his reputation.

If his effort had gone into the net, the morale of the Taiwanese players would have gone down. Instead, they pushed Malaysia back and won a corner from their next attack. From this set-piece Malaysia defensive frailties began to show when slack marking allowed two Chinese Taipei players to have shots at their goal, the first one was blocked but the rebound was turned past Sharbinee Allawee by Chang Han, who also scored in the first leg in Kuala Lumpur.

Defender Asrarudin Putra who was nearest to the goalscorer should have held his hand up taking the blame for letting the player he was supposed to be marking the time and space to put the ball into the net.

The home side, buoyed by the support from the compatriots who were allowed into the venue without any charge began looking for the second goal which would tie the aggregate score.

Then five minutes from the interval, Vietnamese referee Vo Minh Tri awarded a free-kick to Malaysia after a foul just outside the penalty area. This time the distance was much shorter and the probability of getting another goal was higher.

Skipper Safiq Rahim stepped up and once again sent Malaysians into delirium as his effort went over the wall and went in off the far post, leaving Chinese Taipei goalkeeper, Lin Po-Cheng totally helpless.

But the lead did not last long. Chinese Taipei took advantage from Malaysia failure to maintain possession. When they regained the ball inside the Malaysian half did not seem to be a threat. But a few short passes later saw a run into the box by a Taiwan player was halted by Mahali Jasuli's trailing leg and referee Minh Tri blew for a penalty.

Sharbinee guessed right and managed to get his hands to the ball, unfortunately it was not enough to prevent Chen Po-Liang effort from going into the net. The post became the brunt of the goalkeeper's anger as Taiwanese celebrated.

With the score level at 2-2 as the half time whistle was blown mad redo1 left for the Al-Muktafibillah Shah Mosque for Maghrib prayers. After discharging his duties he and Epie headed for The 2 Cafe where another friend, Alep was waiting.

The play was quite even between the two teams. However going into the hour mark Malaysia failure to defend as a team led to their line being breached again. Po-Liang was able to find space past the static Malaysian defence and in his desperation defender, Fadhli Shas tugged at the striker's shirt.

Minh Tri once again pointed to the spot and it was part two of Po-Liang versus Sharbinee from twelve yards. This time the Terengganu goalkeeper managed to put a good solid stop to the ball and gathered it in his second attempt.

It should have disheartened The Taiwanese. Instead they continued to press and with fifteen minutes to go, Po-Liang darted into the box once again past the Malaysian defenders, who again looked static. Sharbinee came out and dived at the striker's feet. No contact was seen but the Taiwanese did a Rooney and kicked at the goalkeeper's hand, making it looked like a foul.

Minh Tri was duped as was Mike Dean at Old Trafford on that particular August day in 2009. This time it was Chen Tsan-Yuan who stepped up and took the responsibility of beating Sharbinee from the spot. The goalkeeper guessed correctly but the height and pace of the forward's effort did not give him any chance at all.

The home side was on the ascending, knowing that another goal would see them through. As for mad redo1 the last quarter of an hour of the match was the longest yet in football for him this season, even felt longer than the period he waited for the final whistle at Bukit Jalil in the FA Cup final.

Fortunately, the Malayan Tigers held on until Minh Tru blew the final whistle and booked their place in the second round on away goals rule.

There they are going to play their arch-rival Singapore in the Peninsular 'derby' over two legs. The first leg is scheduled to take place on 21 July at the compact Jalan Besar Stadium while the return match a week later on 28 July at Bukit Jalil.

To the Tigers, Congratulations!

Other results:
Pakistan vs Bangladesh 0-0 (Bangladesh won 3-0 on aggregate)
Laos vs Cambodia 6-2 (Laos won 8-6 on aggregate, after extra time)
Phillippines vs Sri Lanka 4-0 (Phillippines won 5-1 on aggregate)
Palestine vs Afghanistan 1-1 (Palestine won 3-1 on aggregate)
Macau vs Vietnam 1-7 (Vietnam won 13-1 on aggregate)
Timor Leste vs Nepal 0-5 (Nepal won 7-1 on aggregate)
Myanmar vs Mongolia 2-0 (Myanmar won 2-1 on aggregate)


...

Battle Won...

...but the War is Not Over, Yet.

Failure to keep a clean sheet against Chinese Taipei last night could cost Malaysia dear in their quest to progress further in the 2014 World Cup Qualifying Tournament. The Malayan Tigers did win the match by the odd goal in three but the Taiwanese know they only have to win 1-0 on Sunday in their own backyard to eliminate the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup champions in the first hurdle.

Malaysia failed to capitalise their home ground advantage. Roared on by the partisan crowd Rajagobal's boys had to wait until nearly half an hour into the match before breaking the deadlock.

Substitute Abdul Hadi Yahya, who just came in place of out of sort fullback, Helmi Remeli, broke on the right. He passed the ball to Kunanlan who in turn set the ball up for his skipper Safiq Rahim. The midfielder took his shot early and watched as his effort flew across Chinese Taipei goalkeeper, Lin Po-Cheng and went in after hitting the far post.

Several more chances were created before the break but the Malaysian players wasted them through poor finishing and resolute defending by the visitors. However the home side capitalised on a poor defending by Chinese Taipei nine minutes into the second half to go two goals clear.

Photo by: Azhari Yusop | Dunia Sukan Online

A good delivery by Safiq was met by central defender, Aidil Zafuan Abdul Razak who was left unmarked as he made his run to attack the ball. It was powerful enough to see it bulged the Taiwanese goal net and sending fans in the stands into a state of delirium.

There were a few more opportunities came their way to make the tie completely safe but the Malaysian players just could not make the most of them.

Then thirteen minutes from time, the entire Malaysian defence just went asleep. From a throw in the Taiwanese player broke on the left and delivered a cut back which was met with a fine finish by Chen Po-Liang. None of the Malaysian defender pick up his run into the box which left goalkeeper, Sharbinee Allawee totally exposed.

Despite their efforts later on, the Tigers could not find their way past Po-Cheng again and now must brace themselves for a difficult second leg encounter at the Taipei Municipal Stadium on Sunday.


...

Roar...

...of the Young Tigers!

Malaysia confirmed their place in the final of Asia Olympics Qualifying Round with eleven other nations after a battling display against Lebanon at the Stadium Nasional tonight. After a goal-less first leg at the Sports City Stadium in Beirut, the Malaysian players knew they have to win in order to progress in the competition.

The more favoured Lebanese could be feeling confident of pulling the result they needed to advance but that confidence must have plummeted after nine minutes when Malaysia went ahead through a sweet strike by Mohamad Irfan Fazail after the visitors failed to clear their line.

His finish from just outside the box was akin to the ones that we Malaysians used to see during English Premier League matches, highlighting the fact we have good technical players in our league. What they need is to keep producing the kind of good technique on a consistent basis.

Back to the match, the Lebanese players seemed to be shell-shocked and Ong Kim Swee's boys took the opportunity to press for the security of a second goal. However they have to survive a scare when Khairul Fahmi Che Mat's crossbar was rattled by a strike by Abdallah Taleb.

The second goal did arrive and the way it arrived certainly should make more Malaysians believe in this Malaysian team. A string of passes were exchanged before Gary Steven threaded the ball into the box, having spotted Wan Zack Haikal making a run from the flank.

(Image was taken from Dunia Sukan.com)

The midfielder shrugged off the attention from a Lebanon player and managed to squeeze the ball past goalkeeper, Mohamad Dakramanji. The National Stadium erupted with joy as Malaysians celebrated the goal that could bring them to the stage they have not visited for a long, long time.

It certainly proved crucial. Steven, who received a yellow card in the first minute of the match, saw the same card again flashed to him by Japanese referee, Toma Maasaki six minutes into the second half, resulting in an early bath and giving Lebanon a man advantage.

The dismissal gave them the impetus to push forward in search of goals and with the Malaysian defence kept hacking the ball away at every opportunity, meant the Lebanese would keep coming back.

Finally the constant pressure paid off in the 61st minute when a deep cross from the right was headed towards goal by Mahmoud Kojok. The loose ball then was headed in by an alert Chadie Atie despite the desperate attempts by the Malaysian players to keep it out.

The goal meant Malaysia's hope of advancing depended on whether they would concede again in the last half an hour of the match as a draw tonight meant the Arabs would go through on away goals rule.

Perhaps the best way of not letting your opponents score is to deprive them of the ball in the first place. However, as the Malaysian players continued to punt the ball into Lebanon's half almost continuously saw they have to constantly deal with attacks by the visitors.

Credit to them, they managed to hustle the Lebanon players and prevented them from making much use of the ball, restricting them to making long distance attempts which were dealt easily by Khairul Fahmi.

Only towards the end did the Malaysian players beginning to hold on to the ball and keeping it in the Lebanon half of the pitch. The three minutes stoppage time seemed like an eternity but when Maasaki San blew his whistle one final time tonight it resulted in joyous celebrations not just at Bukit Jalil but throughout Malaysia.

Congratulations Young Tigers!


Other results:
India vs Qatar: 1-1 (Qatar won 4-2 on aggregate)
Iran vs Iraq: 0-2 (Iraq won 2-1 on aggregate)
Palestine vs Bahrain: 1-2 (2-2 on aggregate, Bahrain won on away goals rule)
Yemen vs Australia: 0-4 (Australia won 7-0 on aggregate)
Kuwait vs Japan: 2-1 (Japan won 4-3 on aggregate)
Turkmenistan vs Syria: 0-4 (Syria won 6-2 on aggregate)
UAE vs DPR Korea: 1-1 (UAE won 2-1 on aggregate)
Jordan vs Korea Republic: 1-1 (Korea won 4-2 on aggregate)
Hong Kong vs Uzbekistan: 0-2 (Uzbekistan won 3-0 on aggregate)
Vietnam vs Saudi Arabia: 1-4 (Saudi Arabia won 6-1 on aggregate)
Oman vs China: 3-1 (Oman won 4-1 on aggregate)


...

Another Comeback...

...by The Turtles.

Terengganu made a strong second half comeback to win 3-1 after falling behind against bottom team, Perlis in their 2011 Super League match at the Sultan Ismail Nasirudin Shah last night. It seemed the incident of falling behind is becoming a trade-mark for The Turtles who already made eight positive comebacks from their 17 league matches so far.

They also have made late rallies in their away defeats to Selangor and Perak (FA Cup) while against Kedah they were unlucky not coming away with a more positive result.

Against Perlis, Head Coach, Irfan Bakti chose to field Mazlizam Mohamad and Ronny Harun while resting influential skipper, Marzuki Yusof. It was quite a strange decision by the experienced coach as he was already without regular, Hasmizan Kamarodin who was given an extended leave to be with his wife for the delivery of their child.

Thus it was not really a surprise when the new partnership failed to gel effectively which led to The Northern Lions scoring their goal by Nik Shahrul Hanizam when he capitalised on a defensive mix-up. Instead of introducing Marzuki, it was Abdul Manaf Mamat who was sent on in place of the beleaguered Ahmad Nordin Alias.

It was perhaps a tactical reshuffle as from the line-up, it was more like a 4-5-1 formation with Abdul Hadi Yahya playing as a lone striker. Introducing Abdul Manaf changed the formation to the more familiar 4-4-2 formation again.

However, it was the lack of sharpness of the Terengganu players that saw them playing below par as quite a number of passes went astray despite having a lion share of possession. This prompted uncivilized fans to hurl abuse at the players when they should be giving them encouragement to try harder.

These fans might as well stay away as their presence merely provoke stress to the players who were trying their best under conditions which were not helping them to consistently give their best in every match. The Perlis match was their tenth match in thirty days.

Irfan Bakti's attempt to rotate his squad seemed to backfire which gave credence to his statement that his squad does not have adequate strength in depth to give his players enough rest between matches.

Fortunately his striker Abdul Manaf who was in the midst of a dry spell in front of goal found his scoring touch back with a brace in the second half, sandwiching a strike by another player who have not found the back of the net in the last six matches, Ashaari Shamsudin.

Abdul Manaf first strike came nine minutes into the second half when he latched onto a through pass and finished the move with a low shot that left Perlis goalkeeper, Amini Ahmad Tabarani helpless. Then in the 68th minute Ashaari darted on a solo run past several Perlis defenders which ended with him beating Amini with another low shot.

Then in the 76th minute Abdul Hadi Yahya broke in from the right and sent in a low ball. Abdul Manaf anticipation was spot on as he connected with it to beat Amini at his near post. It could have been four and a ht-trick for Abdul Manaf but his wonderful header from a cross by Reeshafiq Alwi was ruled off-side by the referee assistant.

The win maintained Terengganu pressure on the two teams at the top of the 2011 Super League table. Kelantan won 1-0 at Johor FC while Selangor overcame Kuala Lumpur in Cheras with a 3-1 scoreline.



...

Awards...

...Galore.

Cyclists Azizulhasni Awang and Fatehah Mustafa were named as Terengganu Sportsman and Sportswoman for 2009/2010 at a ceremony last night. The event which was held at Wisma Darul Iman saw the duo retaining the awards they won at the 2007/2008 edition.

Apart from the two winners, the event also saw another cyclist, Muhammad Adeq Husaini Othman named as the most promising male athlete while the female version of the award went to canoeist, Siti Rajiah Ali. The canoeing fraternity saw their men and women team won the best team awards while their association was deemed as the best managed by the selection committee.

Earlier in the evening several awards were presented to the respective individuals and associations.

The Leadership in Sports Awards were given to Dato' Mokhtar Nong and Mohamad Shapian Ali while Allahyarham Mohamad Muda was given a post-humous recognition for his deeds to sports. Khalid Mohamad Dahan's achievements with various Terengganu football teams was recognized with the Best Coach Award.

The Dungun Sports Council received the Best District Sports Council Award while the Sinar Harian newspaper was deemed to be the best in media coverage.

After these awards were handed out, guests were invited to help themselves to the spread on the table. Of course mad redo1 chose the simplest meal of all, satay. By the end of the session there were at least fifteen used satay sticks in front of him. Of course he helped himself to other meals too.

During dinner, guests were entertained with dance by the Sutra Dance Troupe, songs by talents unearthed during local RTM's talent search contests. The main draw for the dinner was of course, the evergreen performer, Hattan who sang three songs.

Then the ceremony got on with the formalities of speeches by the state Youth and Sports EXCO Chairman and the YAB Mentri Besar.

After the speeches, more awards were handed to the other winners. The canoeing fraternity were the biggest winner when they bagged the Best Managed Sports Association, both Best Men and Best Women teams and The Most Promising Women Athlete awards.

But the biggest awards of the night went to the cycling fraternity with the Best Sportsman and Sportwomen going their way. To add more joy they also saw the Most Promising Men Athlete being won by their rider.

To all winners, CONGRATULATIONS!

...

Dull Affair...

...in kT

As expected, Kelantan returned to the top of the Super League table after their 2-0 win over Kuala Lumpur in Kota Bahru. This meant Terengganu are now in third place, a point adrift from The Stags and The Red Giants. It is still a long way to go and during this hectic period which only ends at the end of May, so many things could happen.

In order for The Turtles to keep up in the title race is to play good football but many would not mind getting results by playing 'ugly' football. But playing ugly football and NOT getting the right result would only mean fans are going to desert you en masse, such as the one on display when PBDKT T-Team took on Pahang last night.

The match, like the one between Terengganu and Selangor the night before was televised 'live' by Astro Arena. Unfortunately, it was not anything like the previous match with stray passes galore between the two sets of players. Chances, once again were at a premium.

The closest anyone getting the ball into the net was when T-Team's topscorer, Indra Putra Mahyudin smacked his shot against the bar from a corner, with the Pahang goalkeeper, Rosfaizul Azuar was already beaten.

The crowd were really getting on the back of T-Team striker, Haris Safwan who became the brunt of the blame for the team's poor performance. Perhaps it a was a spell that he was going through when everything he does just would not come off right. This time he lasted just until the interval, when he was replaced by Shamsul Kamal Mohamad.

T-Team dropped to ninth in the table while Pahang remained in tenth.



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