Singapore hold Malaysia to 1-1 draw in Asean
semi
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Singapore held Malaysia 1-1 in the
first leg of their Asean Football Federation Cup semi-final on
Tuesday, with striker Noh Alam Shah scoring his ninth goal of the
competition.
Alam Shah's 71st minute equaliser cancelled out Hardi Jaafar's 56th
minute wonder strike for the dominant Malaysians in front of a
30,000 crowd.
Malaysia desperately looked for the winner but Singapore held on,
despite having captain Aide Iskandar sent off in the final minutes
for a second yellow card for time wasting.
The second leg will be played on Saturday at Singapore's National
Stadium. The other semi-final is between Vietnam and Thailand, who
play the first leg on Wednesday.
Nizaruddin Yusof, Hardi and Eddy Helmi all had chances to put
Malaysia ahead as Singapore struggled to put together any decent
attacks.
Hardi finally broke the deadlock when he received a bobbling ball
from 25 yards out on the left touchline and unleashed a dipping
volley over Singapore goalkeeper Lionel Lewis' outstretched arm and
into the far corner of the net.
The goal lifted the Malaysian players before Singapore were gifted
a goal 15 minutes later.
Alam Shah, who scored seven goals against Laos in the group stages,
was left unmarked in the box to head past Malaysian goalkeeper
Syamsari Mustafa.
POST MATCH CONFERENCE QUOTES
Singapore coach Raddy Avramovic: "Like I said
earlier it will be a tough match and I was right. The second leg
will be just as tough and there is still plenty to play for. "One
small mistake and one small decision can change the match. But we
played well too and scored one lovely goal. But now we will play
without our captain (Aide Iskandar) and it will be tough.
Malaysian coach Norizan Bakar: "We did everything
we had to do in a match. We defended, we created and we scored a
goal. "I will be happy to go to Singapore with such attitude from
my players. "There is still so much to play for and tonight's
performance will give us the positive outlook when we play in
Singapore.
