Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah Football Association women’s team bowed out of the AFC Women’s Champions League with their heads held high on Wednesday.
Their spirited display earned them one point from the 2-2 draw with Abu Dhabi Country Club of UAE in the final Group A tie held at the Hankou Culture Sports Centre in China.
They also achieved the task with only 10 players for more than an hour after goalkeeper Nurul Azurin Mazlan was sent off for bringing down Lara Ivanusa outside the box in the 23rd minute.
The match saw Sabah start positively and the girls seemed to have put their embarrassing 7-0 loss by Wuhan Jangda in the previous match behind.
Intan Serah almost put them ahead with a heading effort that sailed over the bar before Eri Narita headed in Sabah’s first goal of the tournament from fellow Japanese Saki Ueno’s cross.
Disaster then struck following the exit of Azurin as her substitute Asma Junaidi hardly had time to warm up and was beaten by the resulting free kick taken by Rashida Ibrahim.
However, despite the disadvantage of having only 10 players on the pitch, Sabah were able to hold off their opponents until the 44th minute when Eugenia Tetteh rounded off Asma to put her team ahead at half time.
Sabah continued their attacking play in the second half. Saki almost put them level in the 56th minute with a shot before her corner kick in the 77th minute was half-volley home by Intan for the equaliser.
Coach Justin Ganai was full of praise for the team after the game and reckoned they could have won with 11 players.
“I am very proud of my players who played a very good game with only 10 players. If we were to play with 11 players, I believe the scoreline could be different.
“Nonetheless, it was a very good experience for the players. Although we were unable to get the win, a draw was also a very good result,” he said.
He also expressed his thanks to Sabah FA president Datuk Shahelmey Yahya for the support and credited the success of the squad to team manager Arziz Afizy for his tireless effort and encouragement.
