NST Online: Sports

Posted: 21 Jul 2011 05:21 PM PDT

2011/07/22
Devinder Singh
devinder@nst.com.my

A DUBIOUS own goal was all that separated mighty Chelsea from a make-shift Malaysian Selection, whose players more than justified their presence in the team at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

Substitute goalkeeper Izham Tarmizi was unfortunate to have the ball hit him in the back after coming off the post from Didier Drogba's free-kick and there was much doubt that the ball had even crossed the line.

That "goal" in the 79th minute was Chelsea's only saving grace on a night of high disappointment for some of their top players, having came earlier with high hopes of racking up a huge score.

The Blues will leave Kuala Lumpur after being nearly embarrassed by Ong Kim Swee's side as quite a few national players emerged with credit from the game.

Centre-backs Norhafiz Zamani Misbah and S. Subramaniam handled Fernando Torres and Drogba with great composure while goalkeeper Farizal Marlias was a steady pair of hands behind them.

Yossi Benayoun, who had been barracked by the crowd whenever he was on the ball, had his close-range attempt blocked by Fandi Othman while Farizal produced fine saves to deny Patrick Van Anhaalt and John Obi Mikel.

Only the poor finishing of A. Thamil Arasu late in the game denied the Malaysians a share of the spoils.

"It was a normal game for us, there was no pressure to get a result and the players played with dedication and good character.

"It's a good result although I have to look back at the replays to see if that was a goal or not," said Kim Swee, who gained the backing of the majority of the 85,000 crowd as the game went on.

Kim Swee, who began the match with all nine of his senior players, said the youngsters who came on in the second became more confident for as long as the score remained at 0-0.

"I started with the seniors because of their experiece and in the second-half, the players grew in confidence. This gave the younger players who came on the belief that we could score an upset.

"As for the missed chance (by Thamil), I think even Torres and Drogba missed chances. They will learn from this," added Kim Swee.

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas again had to fend off questions about the misfiring Torres, who other than a miscue under pressure from Subramaniam in the first-half, was anonymous in his 45-minute appearance.

"I don't want to turn it into an obsession," said Villas-Boas. "Most important is to score and win, who scores does not matter. It's a pre-season game and the importance here is to find a feel of our team and achieve the objectives of our training.

"I prefer to look at the forward sector (as a whole) rather than on individuals. The strikers will gain confidence to find the back of the net through training, patience and tolerance.

"The important thing here to me is the collective play. Every single player finds extreme competitiveness and wants to be successful."

Villas-Boas, who fielded two separate elevens in each half, praised the Malaysian team for their dogged determination in making life difficult for Chelsea's millionaires,

"We came short today (yesterday) but I won't worry too much about it. We have to find efficiency in front of goal but we created chances to score and Malaysia also had a chance to draw level.

"It was a good display by Malaysia, they were competitive throughout and showed their quality. I'm sure the Malaysian coach would be happy with their performance," said Villas-Boas.

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Aquatics: Bryan gets his London ticket

Posted: 21 Jul 2011 05:15 PM PDT

2011/07/22
Fadhli Ishak
fadhli@nstp.com.my

Malaysia's Bryan Nickson competes in the 3-metre springboard semi-final in the World Championships in Shanghai yesterday. — AFP picture

DIVER Bryan Nickson Lomas will join Pandelela Rinong at next year's London Olympics after he qualified for the men's 3m springboard final at the World Aquatic Championships in Shanghai yesterday.

Bryan, 21, collected a total of 442.70 points to finish 10th in the semi-finals after initially dropping to 15th when he only managed to score 64.35 on his third dive.

Bryan, however, pulled his way back into the top 12 with scores of 78.75, 78.20 and 76.50 in his remaining attempts to make the cut for the final.

The top 12 divers from yesterday's semi-finals qualified for the London Olympics and the event will be Bryan's third appearance at the Games after competing in 2004 in Athens and in 2008 in Beijing.

Pandelela finished out of the medals but managed a respectable fifth in the women's 10m platform final. The 18-year-old was briefly placed third after her first dive which scored 76.50 but was let down by her next two dives of 68.15 and 57.60 which saw her drop to sixth.

Her last two dives, which both scored 76.80, saw her finish fifth overall with a total of 355.85 points.

Pandelela, who is not at her best after injuring her lower back in training, has already qualified for the Olympics by making the final of the event.

Today will also see Cheong Jun Hoong and Ng Yan Yee compete in the women's 3m springboard preliminaries.

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Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Khamis, 21 Julai 2011

NST Online: Sports

NST Online: Sports

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