NST Online: Sports
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| Sea Games / Football: Malaysia's insipid start Posted: 07 Nov 2011 04:14 PM PST 2011/11/08 MALAYSIA did not have the look of champions as they laboured to a disappointing 0-0 draw against Singapore in the opening Sea Games Group A football match at the Gelora Bung Karno in Jakarta yesterday. Despite fielding an attacking lineup featuring four strikers, no goals were on hand as the route to the last four became trickier ahead of tomorrow's match against Thailand. Baddrol Bakhtiar was the main attacking outlet but A. Thamil Arasu, Syahrul Azwari Ibrahim and Ahmad Fakri Saarani -- the latter two on the flanks -- did not fashion a single chance between them.
"Although we have a few strikers available, they are not sharp enough. Syahrul is only 18 and if you give him time, he will be a better striker." The result has complicated Malaysia's bid to make the semi-finals with the team now needing to beat either Thailand or Indonesia, maybe even both, to keep alive their hopes of defending the gold medal.
"We did not play well in the first 20 minutes but after that, I thought we did well except to score," said Kim Swee. They certainly did not have a goal to show in a dour and listless first half display with neither side able to get a grip on the game as Malaysia were limited to shooting from long range.
Baddrol came closest to breaking the deadlock with a long range free-kick in the 24th minute which Singapore goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud tipped over. The Malaysian skipper gave Izwan a scare 10 minutes later when his ferocious strike angled away from the top corner at the very last second. The more offensive-minded Irfan Fazail came on for Abdul Shukur Jusoh for the start of the second half and although Malaysia saw more of the ball, they struggled to create chances. Fandi Othman looked to have been tripped in the penalty box in the 70th minute but the referee waved away appeals for a spot-kick to Kim Swee's frustration. "I can't comment on the decision but from where I stood, it looked like a penalty," he said. Baddrol was denied again in the 75th minute when his free-kick was turned around the post by Izwan before watching his first-time effort in the 83rd minute flash just wide. While Malaysia were disappointed with a draw, Singapore coach Slobodan Pavkovic was happy to pick up the point. "We are not here just to play Malaysia. We have prepared tactically and psychologically to play all four teams in our group," said the Serb. "This is one point gained. For us to play against the champions of the last Sea Games and get one point is okay." RESULTS GROUP A MALAYSIA 0 SINGAPORE 0 GROUP B TOMORROW Group A Group B |
| Posted: 07 Nov 2011 04:11 PM PST NATIONAL Sports Council (NSC) director-general Datuk Zolkples Embong defended the official Sea Games target of 40-45 gold medals as reasonable, given that half the Malaysian contingent are competing at their own expense. Out of the 608 Malaysian athletes in Palembang and Jakarta, NSC does not have any say in the preparation of 320 of them. Without having much of a track record, Zolkples said it is not realistic to include these self-funded sports in the official target.
"From the 42 sports being contested, we have projected gold from 16 sports only. As you know, we only prioritise 19 core sports. "Squash, hockey and lawn bowls are not being held this time, and in Korat (in 2007), these three sports alone brought in eight gold," said Zolkeples in Jakarta yesterday.
The absence of several top athletes in equestrian and cycling also adversely affected the medal target. "Rhythmic gymnastics offers only one gold this time when we won four in Korat, as did equestrian and cycling through keirin, team sprint and time trial, events which have been cut," said Zolkples, who added that the retirement of karate trio R. Puvaneswaran, A. Vasantha Marial and G. Vathana were also telling factors.
"They are not in our programme but they have targeted gold which is why the tally of the national sport associations is 60 gold. "These sports don't have track records to speak of and when we met them in joint-committee meetings, they did not go into detail yet targeted gold in the hope of going under Category A," said Zolkples. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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