M’sia women football team demolish Nepal
The na onal women football squad concluded the interna onal friendly against Nepal with a 4-1 victory at the Universi Malaysia Sabah (UMS) stadium yesterday.
KOTA KINABALU: The national women football squad concluded the international friendly against Nepal with a 4-1 victory at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) stadium yesterday.
Shereilynn Elly Pius’s brace and one goal each from Nur Athirah Mamat and Puteri Noralisa Wilkinson secured the morale boosting win against the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) women’s championship runners-up.
Sajana Rana replied for Nepal in the match, which was the second meeting between the teams who settled for a 1-1 draw in the first game at Likas Stadium on Monday.
Malaysia’s head coach Mohd Asyraaf Fong Abdullah described the victory as a timely motivation not only for the players but also the national team supporters.
“We are very happy because rarely do the national women football team enjoy a victorious outing and today, we defeated the SAFF 2017 runners-up.
“When a victory is achieved, it is a motivation to all Malaysians, especially to women footballers.
“This is a very good result. I’m happy because the players showed improvement from the first game (against Nepal) three days ago,” said Asyraaf after the match.
Elly, who switched roles as a left sided player and played centrally throughout the game, put Malaysia in front after four minutes when she beat the offside trap to pick up a low cross into the box before firing past Nepal goalkeeper Anjila Tumbapo Subba.
Sabitra Bhandari, who scored in the first game, came close to snatching an equaliser on 20 minutes but her headed effort bounced off the goal post.
It proved costly as Nur Athirah made it 2-0 in the 43rd minute when she evaded attention from the defenders before slotting home from inside the box.
Striker-in-chief JI Fedalliah Claritta Jaimin could have added a third just before the first half whistle was blown but fumbled with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Fedalliah made amends for the miss as she turned provider for Malaysia’s third goal which Elly confidently struck into the back of the net just two minutes into the second half.
Nurhaniza Saarani then saw her shot hit the goal post in the 51st minute, shortly after she came on for Jaciah Jumilis.
Despite trailing by three goals, it did not justify the efforts Nepal put up on the field as they created several chances but national number one goalkeeper Nurul Azurin Mazlan was in her element to deny the visiting side.
However, Nurul was finally beaten after 79 minutes when Sajana’s deflected effort went past her in a goalmouth melee.
Malaysia regrouped and replied almost instantly to restore the three-goal lead with substitute Noralisa beating a defender before slotting past Anjila to make it 4-1.
“Today (yesterday), we gave opportunity to some of the players to play against a good side and one or two of them had an impressive game...this is a positive sign.
“That said, there is certainly room for improvement for the team to get better and formidable as we continue to prepare for the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games 2017 in August,” added Asyraaf.
Malaysia’s line-up against Nepal yesterday were Nurul Azurin Mazlan (Asma Junaidi), Masturah Majid, Shereilynn Elly Pius, Jaciah Jumilis (Nurhaniza Saarani), Eslilah Esar, Norsuriani Mazli (Usliza Usman), JI Fedalliah Claritta Jaimin (Puteri Noralisa Wilkinson), Nur Athirah mamat (Angela Kais), Malini Nordin, Dadree Rofinus (Nur Shazwina Shuib) and Haindee Mosroh.