Just A Few Things - PJ City Vs. Pahang

Credit: Malaysian Football League

The Story Writes Itself

There are two things you can takeaway after witnessing that winning goal. Pahang has once conceded a late winner in the match and there was the fact that the PJ City last-minute winner was scored by a Pahang old boy.A free-kick was won by a certain Brazilian forward (More on him later) after being fouled by Khalil Khamis. Up stepped Kogileswaran Raj, the ex-Pahang forward, and his free-kick was deflected into the net to the despair of Pahang and the delight of PJ City. Despite scoring such an extremely crucial goal, Kogileswaran refused to celebrate too much and apologizes to the Pahang fans for doing so.

PJ City has got their campaign up and running. As for Pahang, they once again faltered so late in the match despite looking so promising going forward and now they have to face the fact that it’s going to be a long season for them.

Washington’s Moment

So who was the Brazilian forward that deserves the man-of-the-match? It was none other than Washington Brandao. He was being so lively throughout the 90 minutes that he made life difficult for the Pahang defence, even Herold Goulon had to work hard to try and silent the Brazilian.

Washington played his part superbly well in spearheading the attacks with his runs and dribbling that made Pahang think. He also got two assists in the process by playing that low cross for the first goal and winning the free-kick that lead to the winning goal. He also played a pivotal role in the second goal by winning the ball off a defender near the Pahang final third. However, Pahang understandably felt aggrieved that a foul wasn’t given against Washington in the process.

What was missing to make this a perfect night for Washington was a goal, but his contributions in attack is enough to be the pick as the man-of-the-match.

Breaking Through A Deep Defence

It was perhaps unsurprising that PJ City’s defence would dig deep and contain whatever space was available. Pahang though was not fazed by this. They kept going forward with intricate off-the-ball movement and neat one-touch passing whenever they were near the PJ box. It was through one of these movements that bought them the equalizer when Faisal Abdul Halim was fouled just as he was about to receive Dickson Nwakaeme’s neat through pass. Dickson stepped up and was able to bury the penalty.Pahang continued to approach the PJ final third the same way they did, but the ball just wouldn’t fall for a Pahang player when it mattered. As soon as PJ City has the ball back…

Breaking Through The High Line

PJ City has a tendency to defend deep and keep soaking the pressure. So once they have won the ball, they were capable of playing direct to either Washington & Demba Camara to play off the last defender to make the runs through the high line.

It was because of this that they scored the opener when the same Brazilian forward was able to beat Herold Goulon on the right and played the low cross in for Camara to score, albeit in lucky circumstances. PJ City kept doing this and it looked like it was going to be effective. However, they would sometimes get caught offside for making the run or pass too early, though in one or two cases, PJ City would disagree with those calls, though nothing too controversial.

Unlikely Replacement At RB

With Matt Davies having left Pahang, all eyes were on who will take over that starting role. The person slotted in that role? It’s none other than on-loan forward, S. Kumaahran.

Kumaahran looks like he is to become the latest winger to be converted as a right-back and following his decent performance tonight, we may see him more in that position. He combined very well with Faisal when looking to support the winger in bringing the ball into the box. Kumaahran provided the assist for Ivan Carlos when he swung a cross in for his teammate to guide the ball into the far post despite PJ City keeper, Syihan Hazim’s efforts.

He could’ve scored a breathtaking goal himself minutes before half-time after great interplay with Faisal, only for the ball to just glance wide of the far post. But he did ultimately provide the width needed for more dimension in attack.