Just A Few Things: Selangor Vs. Sabah
Selangor FC
Changes (Almost) Paid Off Again
It was a similar situation for Selangor when they visited Melaka last week. They found themselves trailing at half-time and only registered one shot for the whole first 45 minutes. The 4-4-2 diamond formation was struggling to make any headway yet again and with the absence of Oliver Buff, it was even more difficult for Selangor to penetrate down the middle. So once again, head coach Karsten Neitzel made the same tweaks as last week by bringing on Nor Hakim Hassan for Danial Asri and went for a wider approach.
You probably don’t need a fortune teller to guess what happens next. Thanks to the presence of Nor Hakim, Selangor finally was able to get things going and the equalizer came thanks to the substitute himself. Sabah keeper Rozaimie Rohim palmed Nor Hakim’s cross towards Ifedayo Olusegun and the Nigerian said ‘Terima Kasih’ as he bundled the ball from point-blank. At that point, Sabah has lost control given that they already lost two of their influential players at that point who contributed to their bright first half.
Sensing momentum turning to their favour, Neitzel made more changes by bringing on Shahrel Fikri (Eky) and debuting Hein Htet Aung for a more attacking sting. It was Eky who assisted Selangor’s 2nd goal with a brilliant dink and could’ve had a second assist had Ifedayo not unbelievably miskicked from close range. Selangor kept running at the Sabah defence and had a few more chances thanks to Mukhairi Ajmal and Brendan Gan. But both missed glorious chances.
And perhaps in familiar fashion, the Red Giants were made to pay for it late on. One of Sabah’s own changes, forward Bobby Gonzales who came on for midfielder Syukri Baharun, took advantage of poor marking and headed from close range to steal a point from under the Red Giants feet. In the end, it was not a point gained for Selangor, but two points lost.
It Just Had To Be Him
It just had to happen, doesn’t it? The narrative heading into the match was all there to see: Whether Amri Yahyah can get back at Selangor like he vowed to do following his messy exit from the Red Giants. And like a perfectly-written script, he actually scored against them. With the way he scored, you would be forgiven to forget that he is now 40-years old.
Makeshift left-back Alto Linus took the ball forward and made a brilliant pass to Amri, who was making the run down the left, beating the offside trap. Taking on a certain young defender (Who we will go into next), Amri dribbled into the box and saw his shot going through the legs and into the near post for a fine finish much to the angry annoyance of the home crowd.
Amri definitely showed he still has it, but he was subbed off at half-time, likely due to a heavy knock he picked up shortly after he scored. When he was subbed off, Sabah struggled to recreate an excellent first half and almost lost it. But a well-worked corner late on saved a point for the Rhinos. While Sabah will be content with the point, the question is will Amri also be happy with it? Doubt it considering what he promised to do and that is to beat Selangor. He has another chance though in the reverse fixture in August.
So Solid Sharul
From a local standpoint, it’s hard to remember the last time we have seen a young central defender making waves in the scene just a few weeks after his debut. Ever since his debut for the Red Giants against Kedah, Sharul Nazeem has been consistently rock solid. He has been calm under pressure, smart decision-making with his headers & passes and timed his interceptions perfectly by running to the centre of the pitch to win the ball. He once again showed his penchant of making life hard for centre-forwards to influence anything with Liberian striker Sam Johnson being the latest forward left frustrated thanks to the young afro boy.
He can count himself very unfortunate that Amri’s shot went through his legs that led to the opening goal. But Sharul shouldn’t be too hard on himself for another excellent match. Keep an eye on this kid because he does have what it takes to represent Malaysia in the future.
Sabah Solves Defensive Conundrum
With the return of Rawilson Batuil last week, it was intriguing to see how Sabah head coach Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto can fit him, Risto Mitrevski and Park Tae-su in the same line-up. Kurniawan in the end opted to pair Rawilson and Mitrevski as the centre-back pairing while Park Tae-su acted as the holding midfielder to give Syukri Baharun and Azzizan Nordin freedom to create for their forwards.
The set-up worked to perfection in the first half. The pressing by Sabah along with the calmness and physique of Tae-su as the defensive midfielder made it difficult for Selangor to break through the centre. Meanwhile, Syukri the engine and Azzizan the creator was on stand-by to quickly launch an attack. Overall, they successfully shackled the Selangor midfield as they only limited them to just one shot compared to Sabah’s five with two on-target when the half-time whistle was blown. But the midfield balance was disrupted when...
Scary Incident
There was a major scare before half-time when Sharul Nazeem and Azzizan Nordin accidentally clashed with each other as they were looking to win the ball. Sharul got out unscathed, but almost immediately noticed something amiss when Azzizan didn’t get up immediately. Players and medics from both teams went to check on the midfielder’s condition in what was surely a terrifying situation. Thankfully, Azzizan was up walking again albeit groggily, but he should’ve been subbed off immediately.
Even when the 2nd half started, Azzizan bafflingly was still on the field. But thankfully he was subbed off not long after the restart when Jenius Karib came on to replace him. That situation showed perhaps an introduction to the concussion substitute rule is needed here. After all, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
