T-Team coah unhappy with goalkeeper for playing with pain

Heroics or selfish?

Whatever it was, goalkeeper Zairi Hafizie Idris did not come clean about his fitness before the Malaysia Cup semi-final first-leg match against Negri Sembilan in Kuala Terengganu on Tuesday. And this may have deprived tournament debutants T-Team of a golden chance to reach the final.

Assistant coach Yusof Ali said it was only after half-time that one of the players told him that the 23-year-old keeper was playing with pain as he had not been feeling well even before kickoff.

"By then he had let in four goals and it was too late for us to do anything except replace him with Jibrail Kamaron Baharin.
 

"With Syamsuri Mustaffa out for the rest of the season, Zairi is our number one goalkeeper and I am furious that he had decided for himself to play instead of informing us that he was not feeling well," he said.

Yusof said the former Terengganu player might have thought that the team could not cope without him standing between the posts and he decided to be courageous.

"But then again he could have been selfish knowing that he was not entitled to a winning bonus if he was out of the match from the first whistle."

"I am not sure if our team could have avoided losing 4-2 to Negri that night if we knew about the condition of our goalkeeper earlier but Zairi should have given me a straight answer when I asked him how he was feeling," he said.