Al-Caliph 7-0 Swiss Alliance Dinesh (2) Jeff (2) Fahmie Wan Zaf
Al-Caliph successfully saw off Swiss Alliance 7-0 in their second meeting. It was a one sided game where the opponent had 9 men.
We started the game with 14 players including 3 goalkeepers. Thanks to Razif for getting ZZ to play. This allowed me to put Sahfari as right back. Sawifi played as right midfield. Ridhuan covered left back at the start with Jeff at left midfield. As Hairil was on the way after night shift, Zhaf covered as dc, partnering Hakeem.
As you can imagine, we had a number of players playing out of position. This translated to a very unsettled performance in the first half. We were taking great pains to penetrate a stubborn 8/9 men defence.
Alas the first goal game 15 minutes into the half courtesy of Dinesh who confidently latched on the pass from Fahmie and went towards goal. The second goal was fashioned in the similar fashion, Dinesh standing up even though his ankle was tap from behind by the last man.
Jeff scored the third goal after latching on a pass by Sahfari. Sahfari made a couple of good tackles. However, his attempt to stop a rolling ball using his foot leaves a lot to be desired in contrast to stopping dead a high ball. Luckily he wasnt the keeper today. hehe
Zhaf opened the scoring the second half with a wonderful solo goal from midfield. He sidestepped about 3/4 players before shooting pass the keeper. Jeff scored again and so did Fahmie and Wan. Final score 7-0.
Summary 7-0 may look good but in actual truth the game was lacklustre by our standard. Even your captain who has a positive outlook and utmost faith in the team admit that the game was lacklustre.
We didnt push the opponent hard enough. The tempo was low. Whether it was because of playing in different positions or against a disadvantaged opponent, we were poor in passing and touches.
Fahmie shoots up in the assist standing. Simply because the receivers scored. There were several penetrative passes however we werent able to convert. We even failed to test the keeper regularly. Tries on goal was limited and conversion was very poor. I suspect there must have been some late nights for some.
Aizad was overdoing things when a simple pass was a better option. As an after thought, I should have changed him or just played with 10 men.
I should be proud that the team was able to produce a win given the difficulties we were in this week. For that I am glad. However, it was my objective to view others in the covering positions. It was an opportunity for players to take it by the throat. There were sparks like Sahfari at right back. But an enormous advantage against a 9 men opponent doesnt make the game a fair assessment.
Therefore in the final analysis, there are some possible covers and we should be glad with the 3 points given the difficulties we had.
Credit to the opponent for playing even with though short handed. They were professional. One of their players wish us all the best.
Players Present Sahfari Zhen Zhia Wan Jr Hakeem Hairil Nic Ridhuan Zhaf Aizad Jeff Sawifi Fahmie Naz Dinesh