Harimau Muda survive fatigue to claim victory
They showed signs of toil, but they would not be beaten.
And so the Harimau Muda ended their whirlwind three-match run with a victory at the third attempt, maintaining their lossless streak on Sunday evening by staging an amazing comeback 3-1 victory over the Courts Young Lions at their Yishun base.
The match proved a test of character and legs for the Malaysian side, and it took them quite a while before they settled into the groove against their well-rested opponents on a surface made slippery by the afternoon torrents.
Never mind that the Young Lions were without ace winger Sherif El-Masri, who was recalled by Canada's football association for the country's London Olympics qualification campaign.
The absence of the former Home United star was barely noticed, at least for the first period of the game, with the visitors ever willing to surge forward and seize command.
Against their peers from across the Causeway, they seemed to show greater motivation, and eight minutes into the game, Faris Ramli found himself on the receiving end of Danish import Benjamin Lee's float from the left, placing his header just above the crossbar.
Making the most of a sluggish start from their Malaysian counterparts, the Young Lions put themselves out in front 16 minutes into the match through Jonathan Toto.
The former Etoile FC striker gave the spectators a moment of magic to savour with a solo effort, slicing past three Harimau Muda defenders before taking a shot with such precision that goalkeeper Izham Tarmizi Roslan could only watch helplessly.
None of the Young Lions players might have known it, but their seniors from many moons ago had once called the Yishun pitch their home, and the current generation looked equally comfortable on it throughout the first half.
They tried manfully to build on their lead, but team skipper Hafiz Abu Sujad was well off the mark with a shot from 30 yards out, much to the dismay of everyone on the Young Lions bench.
The young men in yellow and black had it worse, though, and signs of their failure in getting their footing were clear when midfielder Wan Zack Haikal fluffed the simplest of chances in the six-yard box.
Ominously, however, the opportunity came after Wan Zack had latched on to a prodding play by D. Saarvindran, the kind of move that the Young Tigers were quickly making their signature.
Apart from the Malaysians' own inability to finish off their attacks in the first half, the Young Lions had another Etoile alumnus to thank for holding the backline well, as Sirina Camara made his presence felt every time he made a crucial interception to snuff out the danger.
For all their strength at the back, however, Robin Chitrakar's charges seemed incapable of adding to their lead, Hafiz again blowing a great chance on 31 minutes when a mix-up in the Harimau Muda backline allowed Toto to set him up from the left.
And when the two teams switched halves following the interval, control of the game seemed to swing the other way too, as Ong Kim Swee gave his players the kind of half-time speech they had never heard before while playing in the S.League.
Whatever Ong said must have worked, for the Malaysians gradually regained their composure and began to show the kind of play that had earned them the plaudits from many observers.
Four minutes after the restart, Nazmi Faiz Mansor put the hosts on level terms when he punished the Young Lions for their indecisive defending, his clinical finish from inside the box bringing cheer to many fans who had made their way south from Johor and beyond.
If there was any worry that Wan Zack's exit in the first half due to a bad knock had limited the Young Tigers' firepower, his replacement Syahrul Azwari proved altogether capable of wreaking havoc in the visitors' half, especially in the second period.
Indeed, the Harimau Muda No.18 had his part to play in the hosts' second goal, drawing a foul out of an opposing player and prompting referee PM Jeevanathan to award a free kick on 75 minutes.
Up stepped left-footer Fandi Othman to deliver the ball, and Fadhli Shas was unlucky to see his headed connection rock the crossbar before coming back into play.
But there was a teammate ready to follow up, and it was none other than Ahmad Hazwan Bakri – touted by many in the Malaysian scene as the true successor to the legendary Mokhtar Dahari, and proving himself well worthy of that comparison with a smart stab home from close range.
The tide had truly turned, and any hope of the Young Lions leaving Yishun with a point were dashed six minutes later when Camara blotted his otherwise excellent copybook with an error in judgment that allowed Nazmi to net his second goal of the evening with a 30-yard piledriver.
No way was Syazwan Buhari ever going to get a hand on that, and so the Young Lions once again finished on the losing side.
Still, Chitrakar bravely faced the media afterwards, praising his charges for at least showing some progress throughout their stop-start season so far.
"The boys tried their best, and they gave everything," said the Young Lions coach.
"We were unlucky to concede some soft goals, but obviously we are getting better. I hope we can maintain the improvement throughout the game."
Chitrakar expressed some uncertainty over the goal that had turned the game around, although he did not make too much out of it.
"Unfortunately, I don't know if that was a free kick that led to the (second) goal and gave them the chance to come back," he said cautiously.
"But definitely, we should look at the first-half performance and build on it from here onwards."
Ong meanwhile was a relieved man after his eight-day match marathon finally yielded a win, as earlier matches against Albirex Niigata (Singapore) and DPMM FC had ended in draws.
Continuing on the fatigue theme he had brought up several times in the past week, the 41-year-old noted the importance of keeping focused, something he acknowledged his team had not done well in over the first 45 minutes.
"I think my team looked a bit tired and were taking things lightly, and that got us punished," said Ong, who is also Malaysia's national Under-23 coach.
"But in the second half they showed good character like they did against DPMM. They tried very hard and so got the three goals.
"We cannot afford to take things lightly, especially after leading 2-1, as it might jeopardise us in terms of conceding a second goal with a single mistake. Fortunately that didn't happen.
"It was definitely a good result at the end of the ten days we've spent here, as we got five points from my target of seven. That still keeps us in contention for the top five positions in the league, and I have gained a better understanding of other teams here and their strengths as well."
Article taken from sleague.com, written by Ko Po Hui.
CYL Line up:
Syazwan Buhari, Al-Qaasimy Rahman, Faritz Abdul Hameed, Abdul Hadi, Hafiz Abu Sujad (C), Sirina Camara, Faris Ramli (Sufianto Salleh 89′), Shamil Sharif, Aqhari Abdullah, Benjamin Lee, Jonathan Toto (Haniff Sadique 83′)
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