Sharul’s birthday ‘kick’ whets his appetite for more
PETALING JAYA: To celebrate your birthday night with a sweet victory over a strong arch rival is already something memorable but to score your first goal of the season at the same time makes victory even sweeter.
For Selangor defender Sharul Nazeem Zulpakar, Wednesday night’s 3-1 win over FA Cup and Super League runners-up Terengganu in the first leg semi-final of the Malaysia Cup competition will be something that will be etched in his mind forever.
Selangor, now handled by former national team coach Tan Cheng Hoe, struck three goals through set-pieces to get a superb 3-1 result and leave the Turtles with a mountain to climb in the return leg in Kuala Terengganu on Monday.
Terengganu scored first through Kipre Tchetche in the 19th minute. However, the Red Giants bounced back with goals from Richmond Ankrah (37th), Herlison Caion (42nd) and Sharul (53rd), which all came from Muhairi Ajmal Mahadi’s well-drilled corner-kick set-pieces.
For Sharul, who turned 23 on Wednesday, the victory means more as Selangor managed to break Terengganu’s record of wins over them since 2019.
“The three goals we scored are very precious to us as it will help ease our mission to come out on top and get into the final.
“I’m proud to have won tonight and to be able to get rid of the loss to Terengganu but we can’t feel comfortable because there are still 90 minutes left.
“I didn’t expect to get a goal from a corner kick like that, but maybe it’s my luck to score a goal in a setpiece.
“I want to thank my friends for giving 100% focus and fighting on the field because this is what we want in the team.
“I’m just too happy to be able to help the team win and score on my birthday for the first time as well.”
Meanwhile, Terengganu midfielder Nik Sharif Haseefy thinks the team have performed well according to plan but Selangor had the last laugh.
“I can say that Selangor came to the field with more enthusiasm and their focus was on scoring goals,’’ he said.
“But we will not give up and will rise after this because we still have 90 minutes at home.”