Kuala Lumpur City rocked the woodwork twice to mark their return to continental football after an absence of 28 years with a 0-0 draw against PSM Makassar in an AFC Cup Group H opening match in Cheras on Friday.
Romel Morales and Irfan Zakaria struck the post and crossbar respectively as the Indonesia Liga 1 side were left off the hook following an entertaining display by the Malaysia Cup champions.
Paulo Josue and Kevin Koubemba were both denied by Makassar goalkeeper Reza Pratama, who produced a couple of fine saves in the first half to disappoint the passionate City Boys fans who turned out en masse for this rare opportunity to watch an international club match.
The result left everything in Group H hanging in the balance with Kuala Lumpur and Makassar both set to play Singapore’s Tampines Rovers over the next few days with only the group winners guaranteed to advance to the next round.
Kenny Pallraj and Romel Morales returned after missing the Super League defeat to Terengganu a week earlier through injury but J. Partiban remains sidelined.
The restriction on the number of foreign players allowed in the tournament meant Kevin Mendoza was omitted and his place in goal was taken by Azri Ghani, making his second appearance for the club and yet to concede a goal.
Coach Bojan Hodak named a three-man defence of Giancarlo Gallifuoco, Irfan Zakaria and Kenny along with two wing-backs to negate Makassar’s packed midfield which had the effect of keeping their striker Everton Nascimento quiet the entire game.
Morales and Koubemba led the frontline with support from Paulo Josue and Zhafri Yahya as Akram Mahinan manned the middle of Kuala Lumpur’s first continental match since a 3-2 defeat to the Telephone Organisation of Thailand in the 1994 Asian Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final, second leg.
While Gallifuoco had the task of shadowing Makassar captain Willem Pluim, Kenny’s great anticipation ensured Everton remained anonymous and rarely got a touch of the ball with Irfan sweeping up to relay passes forward and making the occasional run through the middle.
Pluim offered the main threat for the visitors, making the first attempt of the match after 10 minutes which sailed just over.
Josue nearly put Kuala Lumpur ahead in the 21st minute when he won the ball back with a brilliant tackle before shooting from outside the box only for Reza to dive low to his right and turn the ball around the post.
Koubemba set up Morales with a cross to the far post in the 34th minute but the Colombian’s header from close range was blocked by Makassar defender Erwin Gutawa before Kamal Azizi Zabri drilled the rebound wide.
A well-worked move involving Declan Lambert and Morales five minutes later ended with Koubemba aiming a low point-blank shot at goal but Reza stuck out a leg to divert the ball away much to the frustration of the home fans.
Just before half-time, Azri watched a speculative effort by Yakob Sayuri strike the crossbar in one of Makassar’s rare forays forward as the teams trooped off at the break still level.
Kuala Lumpur retained control as the teams began the second half with captain Josue nearly finding the breakthrough when his shot on the turn trickled narrowly wide in the 54th minute.
Four minutes later, Morales hit the post when the chance had ‘goal’ written all over it after Josue looked to have been fouled in the box.
Reza spilled Josue’s attempt from distance in the 67th minute but unluckily for Kuala Lumpur, there was nobody following up.
In the next minute, Irfan’s back-header from Josue’s corner kick bounced back off the bar before Hodak introduced Safee Sali and Ryan Lambert for Koubemba and Zhafri respectively in a bid to break the deadlock.
As Makassar players began to tire, they defended in massed ranks which made it difficult for Kuala Lumpur to get through and the stalemate persisted to the end.
Kuala Lumpur City v PSM Makassar: 44 Azri (GK), 4 Kamal Azizi, 9 Gallifuoco, 12 Declan (25 Anwar 59’), 17 Irfan, 21 Kenny, 8 Zhafri (6 Ryan 80′), 28 Paulo Josue (C), 7 Morales, 11 Koubemba (10 Safee 79′)
Subs Not Used: 20 Azim Al Amin (GK), 22 Nik Umar, 27 Hadin, 29 Arif Shaqirin, 30 Fakrul Aiman, 33 Muhammad, 37 Haqimi Azim
Referees: Qasim Matar Al-Hatmi (Oman); Assistant 1: Fahad Awaiedh Alumri (Saudi Arabia); Assistant 2: Rami Taan (Syria); Fourth official: Masoud Tufaylieh (Syria)
Attendance: 1,259
OUR HERO OF THE MATCH: KENNY PALLRAJ
“We are very happy with our performance. All the guys did a good job. We played hard. It’s not that we didn’t have chances, we hit the crossbar and the post. At the end of the day, it’s 0-0, a bit disappointed but it’s a good start.
“We were kind of surprised, we thought they would come at us. We didn’t focus on what they were going to do, all we wanted was to attack, score goals and win the match. We got only one point but we are happy with it.”