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Thriller at Malaysia's expense Posted: 23 Jul 2011 12:01 PM PDT SINGAPORE: The good news is that the battle is not over yet for Malaysia in their quest to qualify for the third round of the Asian Zone World Cup Qualifiers. However, the sloppy defending against an inspired Singapore, which saw the AFF Cup champions going down 5-3 in their second round, first leg match at the Jalan Besar Stadium yesterday is a cause for concern ahead of the return leg on Thursday. Malaysia's Safee Sali may have scored one of the fastest goals - after 29 seconds - in the Asian Zone qualifiers history but once Singapore turned on the heat, the national defence collapsed and they scored four past Malaysia goalkeeper Sharbinee Allawee to take a healthy lead into the break. It could have been worse but Malaysia redeemed themselves with a second half fightback to keep the tie alive with the only blemish being the fifth goal they conceded late in the match. National coach K. Rajagobal admitted that his team were let down by poor defending. "We managed to get a dream start but our defence collapsed when Singapore attacked at a furious pace. We allowed them to score silly goals," said Rajagobal after the match yesterday. "I told my boys in the dressing room at half time to raise their game as away goals count in this tie. We scored from two well-executed attempts. It could even have been 4-4 after that but we let Singapore score their fifth. "Singapore's naturalised players, especially striker (Aleksandar) Duric and flankers Shi Jiayi and Qiu Li made a lot of difference. Duric used his aerial ability to good effect inside the penalty box while the China-born flankers were quick." Rajagobal, however, is confident that his team will bounce back in the second leg in Kuala Lumpur to claim a victory on aggregate. "We played 90 minutes here and lost but we have another match in KL. If we want to qualify, we have to score two goals without conceding any. My team are capable of doing it in Bukit Jalil," added Rajagobal, who handed Terengganu's Ismail Faruqi Ashari his first international cap yesterday. Singapore coach Radojko Avramovic was not pleased with his team's second half performance. "My players used their heads in the first half but they threw everything away after the breather. We will need to fight on in the second leg," he said. Safee's early strike failed to deter Singapore as they levelled proceedings after seven minutes through Duric, who sneaked away from his marker before slotting home from a Qiu Li free kick. Malaysia conceded another free kick at the edge of the penalty box after 22 minutes. Qi Li stepped up and curled the ball around the Malaysian wall for the lead. The visitors switched off again after 44 minutes, allowing Singapore to add two more goals through Shi Jiayi and Mustafic Fahrudin before the breather. The frustrated Malaysian fans showed their anger by throwing empty plastic bottles on Singapore supporters after the fourth goal but enforcement officers managed to control the situation. Matters threatened to turn even worse for Malaysia when skipper Safiq Rahim was sent off four minutes into the restart for a brutal foul on Harris Harun. Thankfully for Malaysia, the numerical disadvantage only lasted four minutes as referee Nawaf Shukralla then sent off Sinagpore's Ismail Yunos for a second bookable offence. However, Rajagobal had made what turned out to be a master stroke at the restart when he sent on Abdul Hadi Yahya and Amirulhadi Zainal, who injected more pace into Malaysia's game with the former reducing the deficit with a superb goal in the 69th minute. Safee then made it 3-4 with a powerful strike from inside the box a minute later and Malaysia were back in the tie. An equaliser eluded Malaysia though as Duric then made it 5-3 in the 81st minute but it could have been much worse and Malaysia have to believe that they can still do it. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search.

Wallabies rip apart Boks Posted: 23 Jul 2011 08:24 AM PDT SYDNEY: The Wallabies rebounded from their shock loss to Samoa to spectacularly launch their Tri-Nations campaign with a 39-20 win over South Africa in Sydney yesterday. The Australians hit back from their humiliating 32-23 defeat to the Samoans to hammer the injury-hit Springboks five tries to two in a dynamic attacking performance at the Sydney Olympic Stadium. Reinforced by seven big guns missing from last weekend's humiliation, the Wallabies ripped apart the South Africans in a bonus-point demolition as they search for their first Tri-Nations trophy in a decade. The Wallabies will also keep the Mandela Plate they won last year with their fourth win in five tests against the Springboks. South Africa left behind 21 injured front-line players for their Australasian leg of the Tri-Nations. Sparked by halves Quade Cooper and Will Genia, the Wallabies were unrecognisable from their sloppy performance against Samoa and were always in command against the world champions. The Springboks have yet to win in five encounters at the Sydney Olympic Stadium and have only won four of their last 23 internationals in Australia. The committed Wallabies showed they meant business from the outset and were 12-0 ahead after two tries in the opening 10 minutes. Mercurial flyhalf Cooper broke the line to link with Kurtley Beale and James O'Connor, and off the next ruck the ball was quickly moved to the opposite wing where skipper Rocky Elsom got outside his man to send Alexander charging over. O'Connor converted and Australia crossed the line again two minutes later when scrumhalf Genia made a break from inside his own quarter and sent flying winger Digby Ioane racing downfield. Ioane stepped inside Springbok fullback Gio Aplon to score a try in his first Tri-Nations test with the Wallabies on fire in the opening stages. Flyhalf Morne Steyn reduced the deficit with a 30th-minute penalty but O'Connor restored the 12-point advantage with a penalty off a South African scrum infringement. Steyn kicked his second penalty to have the Springboks trailing 15-6 at halftime. Three minutes after the resumption South Africa's centres Wynand Olivier and Juan de Jongh held off Cooper allowing the unpredictable Wallaby playmaker to spear through a gap for winger O'Connor to score a scrambling try. O'Connor's conversion lifted the Wallabies to a 22-6 lead. The Wallabies grabbed their bonus-point fourth try and a 29-6 lead five minutes later when hooker Stephen Moore charged over off a Genia pass. O'Connor kicked Australia further in front with a penalty and the points kept flowing when outside-centre Adam Ashley-Cooper scored after a cheeky tap-on from Cooper. The Springboks claimed their first try in the 59th minute through replacement prop Chiliboy Ralepelle but they were well out of it at 39-13. South Africa got a second try through skipper John Smit four minutes from full time. -- AFP Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search.

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