Malaysia makes Chelsea work hard

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.