Malaysian coach Datuk K. Rajagopal is obviously a very relieved man although his team lost badly to English Premier League giants Liverpool in their friendly match at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Saturday.
Liverpool won 6-3 but the three goals scored by talismanic striker Safee Sali (two) and the free-kick blasted in by Safiq Rahim is surely giving Rajagopal reasons to believe his boys will be in good stead for the Asia Zone World Cup second round, first leg qualifier against Singapore on Saturday.
Safee, who plies his trade in Indonesia’s Super League with Pelita Jaya club, showed that he has fully recovered from the knee injury that forced him to miss the Asia Zone World Cup, second leg first round match against Taiwan in Taipei on July 3.
The smile is back on Malaysia coach Datuk K. Rajagopal’s face. Striker Safee Sali marked his return from injury with a brace after coming on for the last quarter of the match against Liverpool. Skipper Safiq Rahim (inset) blasted in a spectacular goal from a freekick. But the icing on the cake is the strikers are finding the mark and this augurs well for Malaysia ahead of the Asian Zone World Cup qualifier against Singapore on Saturday. Malaysia lost that match 2-3 but went through to set up a meeting with Singapore on the away-goals rule with the aggregate score at 4-4. Malaysia won 2-1 in the first leg played at the National Stadium on June 29.
Against Liverpool Safee scored a brace while fellow striker Ahmad Fakri Saarani was also impressive with his work rate. Fakri’s partners in the first half – Abdul Hadi Yahya and youngster Izzaq Faris Ramlan – failed to stamp their mark.
Safee’s partner in the successful Suzuki Cup Asean Football Federation (AFF) campaign last year, Norshahrul Idlan Talaha was rested to avoid aggravating his hamstring injury and is expected to feature against Singapore at the Jalan Besar Stadium on Saturday.
Midfielder Ismail Faruqi Ashaari who earned praises from Rajagopal for his impressive displays is also expected to be in the squad down South.
The Terengganu player was cool and composed despite facing Liverpool’s star laden midfield on his debut with the national team.
Rajagopal said he was happy to see Safee at his beat again.
“I was worried about fielding Safee as he had just recovered from an injury but he past the test with flying colours. Anyway, to score three times against Liverpool will boost the morale of the team ahead of the clash against Singapore,” said Rajagopal after the match on Saturday.
Skipper Safiq, who netted an exquisite freekick past Liverpool goalkeeper Brad Jones was proud of the team-mates mental strength as they did not collapse after conceding an early penalty to the Reds.
“We didn’t caved in after the early penalty and it shows that we have learnt our lesson well,” said Safiq.
“This positive performance is what we need before we play Singapore. It is the perfect boost after the 4-0 bashing from Arsenal earlier.
“We defended well in the first half but the backline was loose and committed some silly mistakes in the second half. I hope to we will be able to rectify all of our mistakes before we play Singapore,” said Safiq.
As far as Malaysia’s attack is concerned, it looks compact and well-oiled but the defence could be the Achilles heel for Rajagopal’s squad.
The record tells it all – Malaysia have conceded five penalties in three matches and have let in 14 goals in their last four matches.
Injured centre back Aidil Zafuan Abdul Razak’s replacement Mohd Muslim Ahmad was jittery and commited several mistakes to gift Liverpool the easy goals.
Rajagopal will have to patch up the holes at the back before his team take on the Lions.
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