The City Boys were left ruing our luck in a game of what if’s on Sunday night, falling to our third defeat in six matches of the Super League, losing 2-1 to unbeaten Negeri Sembilan in Paroi, extending their curse over us in the Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium, where we have failed to win in since 2011.
Following back to back wins at home against high flying Sabah and Melaka Utd, and with nearly a full squad at our disposal, we hopped on the bus to Seremban with a spring in our step, eager to build on the recent victories, despite knowing that this venue has not been a happy hunting ground for us, almost throughout the past decade and from that time onwards. Records are meant to be broken after all, and the Sampai Mati Kuala Lumpur faithful could just not wait to see how head coach Bojan would deploy his attacking options, now that he had Koubemba fully fit and well.
As anticipated, Bojan brought in the Congolese forward, but by sacrificing Ryan, introducing his eighth different starting line-up in as many matches this season, allowing Koubemba to partner with the Rhinos’ conqueror Romel upfront at the kick-off for the first time this year. In what appeared like a tactical deviation, he employed the 3-5-2 formation with skipper Paulo Josue playing just behind the offensive pair, while Akram and Zhafri were in central midfield, flanked by Partiban on the left and Kamal Azizi on the right, both operating with wingback like duties. A back three was used once again, just as the Croatian had done so in the league defeat to Johor DT, but this time Irfan was in the central position with Declan on his left and Gallifuoco on the right.
The pitch conditions before the match were far from ideal, the afternoon heavy downpour created a heavy and slippery surface that was water-logged in certain areas.
Debuting our away kit, in a white top, navy blue shorts and socks, for the first time this season, we were dominant in the early minutes of the game and came close to opening the scoring as early as the 2nd minute, with the home fans still looking for their seats in this 45,000 capacity arena. Off a free kick on the right, midway in the Jang’s half, Paulo Josue swings in a wicked ball into the box that sails over everyone to find Irfan completely unmarked at the back post, but perhaps surprised by the lack of attention to himself, his first-time shot was narrowly wide of the left post.
A minute later, Koubemba after winning a tussle for the ball in the middle of enemy territory, relayed a short pass to Paulo Josue, and the Brazilian took two touches before letting fly a dipping shot from 25 metres, that did not cause too much trouble to Syihan Hazmi in Negeri Sembilan’s goal.
Five minutes into the game we had the best chance to go ahead. Koubemba from just inside our half delivers a defence-splitting pass to find Romel who sprang the offside trap. Running with the ball to face Syihan, the Colombian strikes from just inside the box, looking for the top left corner, only to be denied by the 26-year-old who reacts expertly to push it out for a corner.
The Yellow Red Black team despite missing both their African forwards Liberian Kossi Evanonye and Tajiskistani Ghanaian David Mawutor, began growing in confidence as the match wore on, though our defence dealt easily. First, Mendoza was called into action in the 12th minute, comfortably picking up the ball off a harmless attempt by Omid Nazari, firing tamely from 20 metres after skipping past two challenges in our middle third, and moments later, a low cross from the left into our box found Zaquan Adha, and the former national striker’s backheel looking for Izzuddin Roslan caused alarm bells to go ringing, but it was read by Declan’s superb intervention.
From the preceding play, Akram sitting deep in our half sent a diagonal clearance to the left, which was gleefully met by Koubemba’s athletic sprint, brushing off Nasrullah Hanif’s challenge. He raced into the box with pressure from the retreating Herald Goulon, but with no support arriving, he decided to go for goal, thrashing his shot way off target.
Negeri Sembilan had their second look at the goal in the 18th minute. In a move that began in their half, Che Rashid from the right moved the ball to Izzuddin in the middle. The latter spreads it wide to the left and the cross that came in was headed out by Declan outside the box, falling kindly to Rashid, who superbly evaded Akram’s lunging tackle and fired a threatening scorcher that Mendoza had his eyes and hands-on.
In the 25th minute, Partiban collects a misplaced pass in midfield and launches a long ball down the left to our talismanic striker, who holds up play and then cuts back to Partiban outside the box, with a chance to hammer goalwards. He does not, instead gets Romel back into play, and last year’s Best Foreign Player’s effort on goal was a weak one.
We were fortunate to survive the opponent’s best chance in the first chapter of this fixture, 10 minutes to the break. Frenchman Goulon, a real presence all over the pitch with his imposing build, robbed Paulo Josue of the ball. And from inside his half, he broke out into a run in our area, completely uninhibited before pushing it to Zamri Ramli on the left. A dangerous cross he delivered into the six-yard box that Matteus Alves failed to connect at the far post with Mendoza beaten.
Mendoza’s sharp reflexes were required to keep the scoreline goalless soon after, a fingertip saves from Izzuddin’s screamer looking for the top corner from 20 metres in the 41st minute, after receiving a square pass at the top of the box.
In injury time of the first period, the City Boys were presented with a chance to break the deadlock with Paulo Josue’s freekick from 25 metres, but once more, Syihan was a formidable rock that repelled whatever we threw at him thus far. It was a goalbound effort heading inside the left upright, until the former National Under-22 goalkeeper got in the way, spilling it though into the path of Romel, but all that finishing poise from the previous game deserted him as Syihan came up tops, sweeping the 24-year-old’s rebound attempt to safety.
Halftime was 0-0, unbelievably for us, despite having more of the ball, and more clear-cut chances.
We got off to the worst possible start in the second half, finding ourselves a goal down within two minutes of resumption as Paroi’s crowd erupted in cheers. It was a cheap goal to concede; Koubemba failed to put up any real challenge and allowed Goulon the simplest task to nod the ball home via Zaquan’s corner from the left, though had there been a man on the far post, the ball could have been whacked to safety. It was a disappointing end to our recent run of clean sheets.
Koubemba then was handed a golden opportunity on the plate to make amends for his mistake in defence earlier by drawing us level ten minutes after the restart. The move began with Akram’s steal just inside our half on the right, and he directed to Zhafri, switching play to Partiban on the left. The No.16 sent a deep cross over the entire Negeri Sembilan rearguard, thinking that the ball would have gone out of play, little did they realise, Kamal Azizi was on one of his overlapping runs, and the right-sided player did just enough to lift the ball back into the danger area from the byline. All that was needed was a simple touch into an open goal, but his header was mistimed, completely sailing over the bar.
A minute later, a well-worked move that had 10 passes involving 7 different players, beginning with Zhafri in the middle and ending with an excellent delivery by Partiban from the left into the box, had goal written all over it. Unfortunately, Koubemba’s header just missed the target by inches. Negeri Sembilan was living dangerously at the back, but our frustrations were building.
The Jang’s meanwhile came close to doubling their lead right on the hour mark. A long ball from Khuzaimi Piee down the left channel was met by the run of Zamri. He whipped in a low cross that again Alves, who crashed into the post, arrived a fraction too late.
The thing just did not seem like it was going our way today when a big shout for a penalty in the 62nd minute was ignored by the referee. Kamal Azizi’s low cross into the box from Gallifuoco’s forward pass was handled by Khuzaimi, and despite vehement protests by the entire City Boys bench led by Bojan and the players on the field, the referee and the linesman stuck to their decision as ball to hand. It was unjust indeed as we have seen penalties given for far less than what the Negeri Sembilan defender committed.
Two minutes later, Declan was nearly punished for losing his concentration when receiving a pass from the back, allowing nippy Negeri Sembilan substitute, Selvan Ambualagan to dispossess him off the ball. Thankfully Irfan was there to save the day.
With 20 minutes left on the clock, Bojan decided to make triple substitutions, withdrawing Koubemba, Declan and Partiban, in came Kenny, Ryan and Hadin, and almost immediately we got the equaliser. Just when we thought Lady Luck had deserted us, Paulo Josue’s corner in the 74th minute, came off Goulon and ricocheted off Sean Selvaraj’s back into the goal. The small band of the Sampai Mati Kuala Lumpur faithful situated near the corner flag were overjoyed, and so was the entire team. Finally, we thought we at least had a point in hand.
Barely had we breathed a sigh of relief for overcoming the wretched luck we were having all day, Goulon atones for the mistake earlier and restores the Jang’s lead from their first passage of play at resumption. They spread the ball around from the left to the right just beyond the halfway line, with nothing much to worry about, before sending an early cross in the box that caught us napping. Sensing the danger with Sean putting pressure on Kenny, Mendoza rushed out of his goal to take control of the situation, only to parry the ball, straight into the path of the goalscoring defender who made no mistake slotting into an empty goal. Kenny desperately lunged to prevent the ball from crossing the goal line, but it was in vain. We fell asleep.
Spurred on by the goal, and their fans and we forced to take risks with time running out, Negeri Sembilan almost made it 3-1 in the 82nd minute. Sean stole the ball from Kamal Azizi inside his half and passed it to Selvan, who turned on some blistering pace leaving all in his wake, first evading Akram’s challenge, then going past the fallen Gallifuoco. Full speed ahead into the box, and with only Kenny and Mendoza left, the rash 21-year-old, narrowly missed the target with his fierce shot.
Two minutes later, Akram slides in time to block Omid’s shot inside the box from troubling Mendoza, after Alves had set him up beautifully with a backheeled pass when reacting to Namathevan Arunasalam’s scuffed cross from the right.
Our last chance of the night, came with two minutes to go. Hadin nearly catches Syihan off-guard with his direct freekick from far on the left that the goalkeeper scrambles to palm away, preventing it from creeping just under the crossbar.
Late in injury time, Alves was denied again by the brilliance of Mendoza who saved his volley from inside the box after receiving the ball off a cross from the right.
When the final whistle blew to signal the end of this contest and another defeat on the road, the City Boys were left ruing the chances we had, especially in the first half when we had more of the ball and clear attempts to score. Even during the second half, had any of those chances been converted, or the big penalty decision gone our way, it could have changed the outcome completely. We must learn fast from this defeat, particularly the football saying “if you don’t take your chances, you will be punished”, as we have discovered today. Despite Bojan’s orange bip, Lady Luck only appeared once to help us with the equaliser, we sure need her back for the rest of the season. It is back to the drawing board for us. This defeat continues our dismal record away from home since last season in the league, where we only won once, drew five and lost five. We have to shake off this spell, may the magic of Hari Raya Aidilfitri put us in good stead ahead.
The City Boys resume Super League action in less than a fortnight, after the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations, with two matches at home in quick succession. We welcome Pahang, who will be buoyed by their first win this year during the weekend and take on winless Penang in mid-week. We have to take full advantage, but we must not take anything for granted. Nobody is going to hand us treats and fight we must, always!
Negeri Sembilan vs Kuala Lumpur City : 1 Mendoza (GK), 9 Gallifuoco, 12 Declan (70’ 21 Kenny), 17 Irfan, 4 Kamal Azizi, 8 Zhafri, 14 Akram, 16 Partiban (70’ 6 Ryan), 28 Paulo Josue (C), 7 Romel, 11 Koubemba (70’ 27 Hadin)
Subs Not Used: 44 Azri G. (GK), 22 Nik Umar, 25 Anwar, 29 Shaqirin, 30 Fakrul, 33 Muhammad
Referees: Mohammad Zamzaidi bin Katimin; Assistants: Mohd Khairul Nizam Radzali, Mohd Hafiz bin Yusoff; Fourth Official: Jubik bin Andangon
Attendance: 2,159
OUR HERO OF THE MATCH: IRFAN ZAKARIAN
He told The Voice of City Boys:
To watch the highlights of this match, please click https://youtu.be/cVZonHv8SGo
To watch the complete match, please click https://youtu.be/vnPUDxZ-Cj0
NEXT UP FOR THE CITY BOYS IS THE VISIT OF SRI PAHANG FC ON MATCH DAY 7 OF THE SUPER LEAGUE, SATURDAY, 7/5/2022 AT 8 PM AT THE KUALA LUMPUR FOOTBALL STADIUM IN BANDAR TUN RAZAK, CHERAS.
Information on tickets will be informed nearer to the match. https://www.tickethotline.com.my/
For Season Ticket Holders (B2 City Boys), enjoy 20% off regular ticket prices for your friends and/or family (Limited to a maximum of 4 tickets per transaction. Contact Shamim for details)
Prepared by The Voice of The City Boys