Saturday, March 19, 2011

MALACCA QUALIFY FOR FIRST FINAL

Defending champions Kuala Lumpur marched into the final of the National Under 16 Tournament in style as they blanked Kelantan 6-0 in the semi final at the KLHA Stadium in Pantai this evening.
In the other semifinal, Malacca defied all odds to defeat Perak 3-1 on penalty strokes after the match ended in a 1-1 draw. It is the first time that Malacca has qualified for the final.
Goalkeeper Mohd Ridzwan was the toast of the Malacca squad as he saved the third stroke, having psyched the first two Perak flickers, Mohd Khairul Adha Ilyas and Azli Misron to send their flicks wide on either side of the goal. And the attempt by Mohd Helmi Jaafar was saved by Ridzwan.
In contrast Malacca scored through Luqman Nurhakim, Muhd Zairie Nizam and Mohd Firdaus Omar with only Mohd Amirul Aiman failing to find the mark.
Perak took the lead in the 24th minute through Mohd Khairul only to see Malacca draw level in the 62nd minute when Mohd Faid Farhadh converted a penalty corner. Extra time failed to produce a winner and the match was decided on penalty strokes.
Kuala Lumpur thus has made it to four consecutive finals since 2008 and are gunning for their fourth successive trophy. And their march towards the final is all the more impressive given that they have gone 560 minutes without conceding a goal.
As with their preliminary round matches, Kuala Lumpur were slow starters and took more then 15 minutes to settle down.
Their midfield was akin to sleepwalking as Kelantan had more possession but could not convert their domination into goal scoring opportunities.
And once KL went into gear, there was no stopping them. Muhd Farhan Danial converted a penalty corner in the 19th minute to give KL the lead. wo minutes later it was the turn of Atihsha Tamil Chelvam to strike, also off a penalty corner to give the defending champions a 2-0 lead.
When KL scored their third, via Norsyafiq Sumantri in the 23rd minute, all hell broke loose as the Kelantan team walked off the pitch, claiming that the goal should have been disallowed. But umpire Wan Iqmal Hasif was correct in awarding the goal as Norsyafiq’s deflection was towards goal and hit a defenders leg before crossing the goal line.
After a delay of three minutes, the Kelantan players returned to the pitch but KL were not about to ease off as Zizi Azwan Hassan made it 4-0 in the 26th minute.
KL eased off in the second half but were still good enough to add two more goals to their tally through Zulaniq Adib Abd Razak (44th minute) and Atitshha (67th minute) to complete the rout.
Semi Final Results:
Kuala Lumpur 6 Kelantan 0
Malacca 1 Perak 1

(Malacca won 3-1 on penalty strokes)
Fixtures – Sunday
3/4th Placing

1530H – Kelantan v Perak
Final

1730H – Kuala Lumpur v Malacca