Published on: Friday, January 21, 2005 |
Kota Kinabalu: Brazilian flair wove its magic again as Sabah bound to a 4-0 victory over Malaysian Premier One side Malacca in a quadrangular friendly at the Likas Stadium last night (Thursday).
It was nearly an all Brazilian affair on the scoresheet for the Rhinos, with crowd favourite Eduardo Pinceli, nippy midfielder Andrezinho Esposito and struggling striker Julio Cesar Ramires notching a goal each.
Even the goal from local import K Nanthakumar had the samba touch, with the help of Ramires who saved it from going out of play.
It was a fairly entertaining match, with the home team putting on a more polished performance compared to their scrappy 1-0 win over Indonesian side Persibom on Tuesday.
The pace was quick as both sides scrambled to take control of the game. Pinceli, better known as Edu, eventually set the path to victory for the Rhinos with a surprise goal directly from a corner in the 32nd minute.
Later in the second half the diminutive Andre took advantage of a poor clearance by the Malacca defence in the 55th minute as he sent a first-timer home in a solo effort from near the halfway line.
Eleven minutes from time, Nanthakumar added to the misery of the Malacca backline as he converted a goal off an unexpected pass from Ramires, or Juninho as he prefers to be called, who barely managed to pull the ball away from the line as he sent it into the box.
Juninho sealed the deal for the Rhinos in the 82nd minute, this time Nanthakumar returning the favour with a deft flick to the Brazilian who sent it flying past the Malacca goalkeeper.
Meanwhile, in an earlier game Persibom had a field day against Brunei as they went on to win 3-0. On Wednesday, Brunei notched a 1-0 win over Malacca.
The four-way friendly takes a break today .
(Friday) in conjunction with Hari Raya Aidiladha. The last two matches will be played tomorrow (Saturday) starting with Malacca vs Persibom at 5pm followed by Sabah vs Brunei at 8.15pm.
Tickets for the quadrangular are sold at RM10, and proceeds will be donated to the Malaysian Tsunami Disaster Fund.
