Just A Few Things: KL Vs. FELDA United

Credit: Malaysian Football League

The Indra Story Continues

Having being honored for being the first player to score 100 Super League goals before the match started, it was business as usual for KL captain, Indra Putra Mahayuddin as he continued where he left off. He added two more goals to his overall goal tally. And it both those cases, he got the better of the normally reliable FELDA defender, Thiago Junio on both his goals.

Indra Putra makes no mistake to unleash his shot into he back of the nest for a well-deserved equalizer. Though there may be suspicions whether he pushed Thiago to get into a much better decision, albeit the defender did went down a little theatrically. The second goal saw Indra getting at the end of Ashri Chuchu’s wonderful cross after outmuscling and outcrouching Thiago to head the ball by the far post.

At this rate, he may be heading for double figures across all competitions. The 37-year old has shown no signs of stopping and it looks like KL has found a new decent source when it comes to goals.

If Anything You Can Do, I Can Do It Too

But someone else also rose to the occasion to somewhat spoil the occasion. Not to be outdone by the veteran attacker, FELDA striker Abdul Azim Rahim was a menace to KL’s backline. He ran all over near KL’s final third as his off-the-ball movement discomfort KL on where he might be going next.

Azim seem to know where he should be in anticipation of where the next ball might be inside KL’s box and has a similar work-rate and agility levels to Kipre Tchetche. His first goal was fortunate when Christie Jayaseelan’s effort hit the post, but he was at the right place and time to convert the rebound. The second goal was brilliant. S. Chanturu crossed the ball back in after Jocinei Schad’s effort hit the far post and Azim Rahim leaped gracefully to head the ball in before any KL player could react, save for one who was following him but got outjumped.

Hadin Azman may be missing thanks to injury, but FELDA it seems has another trump card they can utilize in the 22-year old Azim. KL learned a lesson on not to sleep on him. Keep an eye on this forward whenever he is on the pitch.

Zaiful Dropped?

It’s bad enough that you’re not having a good game, but to be subbed off during the first half for reasons other than injury could well be a sign that you’re not going to be in the starting eleven for quite a while. But that is exactly what happened to KL’s right-back Zaiful Abdul Hakim who has been struggling recently.

Zaiful looked lackluster in the 30+ minutes that he was on the field. Head coach Chong Yee Fatt had to make a call to brighten up the right flank by bringing on Firdaus Faudzi to replace Zaiful. KL looked better going forward and that will not help Zaiful’s case.

Advantage FELDA

Normally if you have three goals away from home in a two-legged tie, you would be forgiven for being happy with the result. FELDA perhaps performed a lot better than expected without Hadin’s influence. However, Azim’s emergence and Jocinei looking much more impactful, they are looking capable to kill the game off.

KL would be kicking themselves for being static when they shouldn’t have for gifting three away goals to the visitors, let alone had a larger chunk of the chances in an end-to-end match. Let’s not forget Zhafri Yahya had wasted a golden one-on-one effort when the score was 2-1 to KL that is looking more and more haunting unless KL can cook up something similar and keep it tight at the back.