Skip to main content

Football: No special treatment for 'special ones'



Singapore skipper Shahril Ishak going for a ‘triple heading’ at the Maybank training centre in Bangi on Monday. — Picture by Effendy Rashid
Singapore skipper Shahril Ishak going for a ‘triple heading’ at the Maybank training centre in Bangi on Monday. — Picture by Effendy Rashid
 
SINGAPORE'S naturalised players have been described as the "special ones" by national coach K. Rajagobal but his players will not give them any special treatment in tomorrow's World Cup qualifier return leg. Bosnian-born Aleksandar Duric, together with Mustafic Fahrudin (Serbia), Daniel Bennett (England), Shi Jiayi and Qiu Li (China) were in their element in Singapore's 5-3 victory over Malaysia in last weekend's first leg.

The 41-year-old Duric outfoxed a young Malaysian defence to score a brace while Fahrudin, Jiayi and Qiu Li added the other goals.

"They are Singapore's lifeline. We will pay some attention to them but we will not go overboard," said Rajagobal at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya yesterday.
"Our priority is to score goals and defend well. I will not resort to man-to-man marking as the system will not work for a team who need to win the match."

Besides the five naturalised players, Singapore's own Shahril Ishak and Hariss Harun are also capable of turning the match in midfield. Both players did a superb job in the first leg to frustrate Malaysia's midfield led by captain Safiq Rahim.

On the hosts' confidence ahead of tomorrow's match, Rajagobal said his players are mentally and physically prepared.

"My young players made mistakes on the artificial turf in Singapore and lost the match... but this is not an excuse. We played badly in the first half but did better after the breather," said the coach, himself a former international.

"I have gone through the video with the players to see what went wrong. A few players who did not play well, were also advised to buck up. Overall, everyone is eager."

Rajagobal has also called on the local fans to turn up in full force to support the national team.

"I want Malaysians to come in large numbers and play their part in this crucial tie as we play better in front of our fans," he said. Up to yesterday, 60,000 tickets for the match have been sold.

When asked about Malaysia's target in the World Cup qualifiers, Rajagobal said the tournament is part of the team's preparations for the 2015 Asian Cup in Australia.

"My target is to help Malaysia qualify for the Asian Cup. My main objective is to prepare a formidable team for this challenge.

"We need to do our best in the World Cup qualifiers as a good performance will help in the players' development. It is also important that we at least beat Singapore."

Read more: NST

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