Olympic team to play 12 matches in Slovakia

The national Olympic football squad will play between 10 to 12 friendly matches in Slovakia as preparation for the SEA Games to be held in Indonesia in November.

The team, which is scheduled to leave on July 23, will be based in Vion in Slovakia.
Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Razali Ibrahim said the squad would be pitted against Czech Republic and Austrian Olympic teams, and also Slovak First Division League teams.

"This is part of the preparation for the SEA Games and the 2012 London Olympics' qualifying round," he told reporters after opening a workshop on the national football development attended by 70 coaches at the National Sports Complex, Bukit Jalil, Wednesday (29/06/11).
He said although the ministry had yet to approve a budget for the training stint, it had agreed in principle on the proposal from the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).

On sports development, he said RM1.7 million had been allocated to the Education Ministry for football development in schools.

Of the amount, Datuk Razali said RM800,000 would be spent to hold the Education Ministry League, RM500,000 to purchase sports equipment and RM400,000 to organize a high performance sports carnival.

"Our target is to get 2,600 footballers among school children aged between 11 and 13 to be trained by 1,700 coaches under the football development programme nationwide," he said.

Sports Minister Hails National Team’s Success

July 4, 2011

SHAH ALAM – Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek congratulated the national football team on qualifying for the second round of the 2014 World Cup Asian Zone Sunday night.

Malaysia advanced to the second round though they were edged 2-3 in the return leg in Taipei tonight on account of the away-goal rule when the aggregate ended 4-4. Malaysia had won 2-1 in the home leg on Wednesday.

“We look forward to Malaysia overcoming Singapore in the next round,” he told reporters after watching a live telecast of the Malaysia-Taiwan match together with some 200 soccer fans at a restaurant in Section 13 here.

He also urged Malaysian soccer fans to turn out in full force to cheer the national team when they take on Singapore in the city-state on July 23.

The return leg will be played at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur on July 28.

World Cup 2014 Qualifier : Malaysia advance after thriller

TAIPEH: Call it what you will. Whether it was the away blues, the yellow jersey curse or just plain bad luck (three penalties were conceded), there was no disguising the fact that a disaster was averted. There was no celebration at the end of a disjointed performance at the Taipeh Municipal Stadium as Malaysia advanced to the second round of the Asian World Cup qualifying only on the away goals rule after a 3-2 defeat to Taiwan levelled the aggregate score at 4-4.

The defeat left a bitter after-taste as the national team succumbed to a side ranked 165th in the world and national coach K. Rajagobal knew the performance left much to be desired.

Had it not been for Sharbinee Allawee Ramli saving the second of those penalties, Malaysia could well have suffered an embarrassing exit to a Taiwanese team inspired by 15,000 roaring fans who were given free admission..
"Taiwan started aggressively as they were going for the first goal and after we scored in the eighth minute, we should have played calmly.

"That goal should have given us the confidence to play better but we did not play our normal game. And when they scored, it was down to our own mistakes.

"More importantly, however, we are through to the second round but we must fix our mistakes and not repeat them," said Rajagobal, who made three changes to the side that won the first leg 2-1 in Bukit Jalil.

Norshahrul Idlan Talaha and Abdul Hadi Yahya started together upfront as Mahalli Jasuli came in at right-back while Taiwan handed a debut to Xavier Chen in their only change.

Whether Vietnamese referee Vo Minh Tri was justified to give away three penalties to the home team will be debated to no end.

Certainly the third spot-kick was doubtful with replays indicating Sharbinee had got his hands to the ball before Taiwan's Chen Po Liang went tumbling over.

Later, Vo denied Malaysia a legitimate penalty claim when Ahmad Fakri Saarani was sent spinning in the box.

"Never in my career have three penalties been awarded against my team. The third penalty, from where I was, I don't think should have been given. I'm not satisfied with the way we played but we did well in patches when attacking and Fakri should have had a penalty," added Rajagobal.

Aidil Zafuan Radzak and Safiq Rahim twice gave Malaysia the lead in the first half but each time Taiwan came back with some enterprising movement to rattle the visitors.

Aidil's thundering free-kick in the eighth minute, some 35 metres out which went in off the under-side of the bar, wiped out Taiwan's away goal advantage from the first leg.

Any pretension Malaysia had of coasting through the match was swept away by Taiwan's equaliser through Chang Han in the 31st minute.

Safiq, however, restored Malaysia's lead in the 40th minute when he curled a free-kick beyond the despairing dive of Lin Po Cheng.

But lessons were not learnt as Mahalli conceded possession cheaply and promptly gave away a penalty after clipping Chang Han from behind. Po Liang made it 2-2 from the spot off the hands of Sharbinee Allawee Ramli.

Hadi and Amirul had shots saved by Taiwan's replacement goalkeeper Pan Wen Chieh in the 58th minute before Fadhli Shas was adjudged to have pulled Po Liang down four minutes later.

Sharbinee rescued Malaysia by saving Po-Liang's penalty but it failed to galvanise the Malaysians as it was then the goalkeeper's turn to be penalised, harshly, as Po Liang took a tumble.

This time, Xavier stepped up to score on his debut and Malaysia rode out a few scares, not least when Lo Chih En sent a curling effort that almost found the top corner.

Malaysia: Mohd Sharbinee Allawee, Mohd Fadli Shas (Mohd Muslim Ahmad), Mohd Aidil Zafuan Abdul Razak, Mahalli Jasuli, Mohd Asraruddin Putra, Amar Rohidan, Safiq Rahim, Mohd Amirulhadi Zainal (S. Chanturu), S. Kunalan, Abdul Hadi Yahaya (Ahmad Fakri Saarani), Norshahrul Idlan Talaha.

Taiwan: Lin Po-cheng (Hsin Wei Sheng), Chang Yung-hsien, Lin Cheng-yi, Tsai Hsien-tang, Chen Yu-lin, Chang-han, Lo Chih-an (Wu Chun-ching), Lo Chih-en (Wu Pai-ho), Chan Che-yuan, Xavier Chen, Chen Po-liang.

World Cup 2014 qualifiers : Rajagobal facing strikeforce headache

 

TAIPEH: Taiwan will be fielding Belgium-based midfielder Xavier Chen in today's Asian World Cup qualifying first round second leg but his inclusion has not sent the Malaysian camp running for cover. National coach K. Rajagobal has enough on his plate to worry about with injuries to strikers Safee Sali and Norshahrul Idlan Talaha a bigger concern.

With Ahmad Fakri Saarani and Abdul Hadi Yahya having just returned from injury themselves, Rajagobal said he has yet to make up his mind on which pair will be lining up today.

Norshahrul, however, gave the team a boost when he resumed training on Friday but Pelita Jaya's Safee is definitely out after being reduced to watching his teammates train from the sidelines.
"Safee is out but I have not made a decision on who to play. I'll have to see the situation with the players and the tactics we will use before deciding on who should start.

"My main concern is the strikeforce but we have played without Safee before and still won. So it is not just about one player," said Rajagobal before yesterday evening's official practice session at the Taipeh Municipal Stadium.

Taiwan coach Lo Chih-Tsung confirmed KV Mechelen's Chen will start today as Taiwan look for the 1-0 win that will deliver the knockout blow to Malaysia, who won the first leg 2-1, and advance on the away goals rule.

Rajagobal, however, does not think it will come to that.

"In the first leg, we did not have penetration on the right flank and the right-back Helmi (Remeli) was nervous playing his first competitive international match.

"I had to replace him but the team had also not got into their rhythm yet after not playing competitively since the AFF Cup.

"It will take one or two matches to get the tempo back. Had we converted our chances in the first leg, we would have already been through," said Rajagobal.

Young Tigers A's Mahalli Jasuli looks likely to take the right-back spot while the right midfield position is a toss up between S. Chanturu, Ashaari Samsudin and Amirulhadi Zainal.

Baddrol Bakhtiar and Abdul Hadi Yahya could start upfront while the rest of the side virtually picks itself from defenders Aidil Abdul Radzak, Fadhli Shas and Asraruddin Putra Omar, midfielders Amar Rohidan, Safiq Rahim and S. Kunanlan and goalkeeper Sharbinee Allawee Ramli.