Kota Kinabalu: The national ladies football team claimed a 2-0 win in the friendly match against Singapore national team at the Likas Stadium on Monday night.The hosts, featuring mostly Sabahan players, dominated the game from the start but poor finishing made the scoreline look good for the visitors.Malaysia opened the scoring as early as the 12th minute through Nursuriani Marzki when she received a pass from Jaciah Jumilis.
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The right flank was the live wire of the team. Her darting runs created havoc in the Singapore half but unfortunately her many deliveries were wasted by her teammates.The team only managed a one-goal lead in the first half. It was the same scenario in the second period until Angela made the breakthrough in the 75th minute for the second goal.
Head coach Asraaf Fong Abdullah, who was given the task to handle the team bound for the coming AFF Cup Championship in Mandalay, Myanmar from July 25-Aug 4, was generally happy with the performance of the players but admitted that more work needs to be done."It was the first time the team played against a women's team since the training started.
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Before this I had arranged matches with the men's team from the KK league as well as the DYS FAM Cup squad."It helped in their preparation as one can see that the players were able to show their capability tonight.
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They dared to hold the ball and played with short passes."However, more drills need to be done especially from the left flank. I was using five midfielders in this game but the attacking moves tended to fizzle out in the final third and the midfield was slow to take up space created by the striker.
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"Overall it was a positive match for the team, it gave them the confidence to play positive football."The team will have two more friendly matches against Gwangzhou FC in Gwangzhou, China later in the month before their opening group match in the tournament against hosts Myanmar on July 27 followed by Australia Under-20 on July 29 and Timor Leste on July 31.
