Skip to main content

Zimbabwe ganti Syria

Oleh WAN FAKHRUL BAKAR
wanfakhrul@kosmo.com.my

Azzuddin Ahmad

HASRAT Malaysia untuk menguji kekuatan Syria tidak kesampaian apabila aksi persahabatan bola sepak yang dijadualkan pada 2 Januari depan di Kuala Lumpur itu terpaksa dibatalkan.

Sebagai ganti, skuad kebangsaan bimbingan K. Rajagobal itu akan bertemu Zimbabwe di Stadium Nasional, Bukit Jalil pada Rabu depan sebagai ujian sebelum aksi terakhir kelayakan Piala Asia 2011 menentang Emiriyah Arab Bersatu (UAE) di Dubai pada 6 Januari depan.

Setiausaha Agung Persatuan Bola Sepak Malaysia (FAM), Datuk Azzuddin Ahmad berkata, pihaknya hanya menerima maklum balas pembatalan daripada Persatuan Bola Sepak Syria (SFA) pada pagi semalam.

"Baru pagi tadi (semalam) kita menerima berita pembatalan ini dari pihak SFA. Alasannya mereka tidak dapat hadir ke sini. Jadi sebagai ganti, kita akan bertemu Zimbabwe pada 30 Disember.

"Tapi kita masih menanti pengesahan rasmi daripada Persekutuan Bola Sepak Antarabangsa (FIFA) dan jika kelulusan diterima, perlawanan menentang Zimbabwe ini akan dapat kita adakan," katanya ketika dihubungi Kosmo! petang semalam.

FAM sepatutnya mengadakan Mesyuarat Jawatankuasa Pengelola Perlawanan Persahabatan Malaysia melawan Syria petang semalam tetapi ia terpaksa dibatalkan berikutan perkembangan terbaru itu.

Tahun ini saja, Malaysia sudah dua kali mengadakan perlawanan persahabatan menentang Zimbabwe iaitu ketika persiapan menghadapi Manchester United pada Julai lalu.

Pada perlawanan pertama di Stadium Bola Sepak Kuala Lumpur, Cheras pada 12 Julai lalu, Malaysia menang 4-0 manakala pada aksi kedua di Stadium Shah Alam pada 14 Julai, Malaysia sekadar menang tipis 1-0.


Namun Zimbabwe ketika itu hanya dibarisi pemain-pemain dari sebuah kelab tempatan mereka iaitu Monomotapa United.

Berdasarkan ranking terbaru yang dikeluarkan FIFA pada 16 Disember lalu, Malaysia kini berkedudukan ke-160 dunia, Zimbabwe ke-109 manakala Syria ke-91.

Anak-anak buah Rajagobal akan berkumpul menjalani latihan pusat bermula hari ini dengan majoriti mereka adalah pemain-pemain bawah 23 tahun (B-23) negara yang baru saja memenangi pingat emas di Sukan SEA Laos kecuali dua pemain senior, Norhafiz Zamani Misbah dan Amri Yahyah.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ex-coach's jail sentence cut to a year

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal yesterday sentenced former athletics coach C. Ramanathan to 12 months' jail for molesting two junior athletes 19 years ago. A three-man bench led by Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus unanimously dismissed Ramanathan's appeal against conviction, but varied the jail sentence of four years to a year, which was to run concurrently. Following yesterday's ruling, Ramanathan, 75, a former teacher, walked out a free man as he had served 10 months in Kajang Prison. Convicts get one-third remission for good behaviour while in prison. However, he will lose his pension. Hishamudin, who sat with Datuk Abdul Wahab Patail and Datuk Linton Albert, said the court found no merit to overturn the conviction. "However, in reducing the sentence, we considered Ramanathan's age and the long years the appeal has taken." Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud submitted that then High Court judge Tan Sri Abdull Hamid E...
2 comments
Read more

Govt Always Gives Emphasis To Sporting Culture, Says PM

KUALA TERENGGANU, May 29 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badaw i said the government always gives emphasis on cultivating a strong sporting culture in achieving excellence at the international level. As such, the Prime Minister said, it was important to scout for young talents in sports. "I observe that the Malaysia Games (Sukma) has become one of the important platforms to do so. "In this arena, the potentials and skills of the youngsters can be identified for development so that they can achieve greater success in sports," he said in his message in the souvenir book of the 12th Sukma from May 31 until June 9. Abdullah said he was aware that competition in sports was very keen and challenging but this did not mean that Malaysian athletes were incapable of competing at the international level. "The fact is that we have all the characteristics required to be excellent. We must inculcate a strong fighting spirit so that we don't easily surrender,...
1 comment
Read more

Rajagobal Let Off The Hook

PETALING JAYA, April 24 (Bernama) -- National head coach Datuk K. Rajagobal was let off the hook by the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) Disciplinary Committee after finding no evidence that he had violated FAM's Article 88, as claimed. FAM Disciplinary Committee chairman Datuk Taufik Abdul Razak said the committee had decided not to charge Rajagobal after carefully analysing the video of the post-match press conference by the 56-year-old coach. "After listening to the recording of the post-match press conference, we decided to drop the charge against Rajagopal as he did not make such a statement. "Maybe his (Rajagobal) assessment and comments of the match was misconstrued by the media. There was no mention of the FAM policy throughout his comments," said Taufik after emerging from a three-hour Disciplinary Committee meeting at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, here, Wednesday. Rajagobal who does not mince his words when asked to com...
4 comments
Read more