Not yet, Kedah tell Ta’zim
KEDAH forced Darul Ta’zim to wait for another week before being able to celebrate a fourth consecutive Super League title success on Wednesday.
Around 17,000 fans packed the Larkin Stadium in anticipation of a celebration and though Darul Ta’zim did the job by beating Perak 2-1, Kedah prolonged the title race until Aug 5 at the very least by trouncing Kelantan 5-0 in Alor Star.
It left Darul Ta’zim still holding an 11-point lead over Kedah with four matches to go, a gap which seems almost insurmountable.
Darul Ta’zim midfielder Natxo Insa does not mind the wait, confident in his team's ability to overcome Selangor in their next league match in Selayang to settle the title race once and for all.
“I am lucky to be at very nice place so it is easy to adapt here and become better a player,” Spain-born Insa, who took up Malaysian citizenship before joining the league leaders, told TV9.
“The most important thing for us is to win this game. We can win the league in the next game. I came here to win the league so I am very happy.”
Hafiz Kamal stunned the home crowd with a well-taken free-kick just before the break but Fadhli Shas drew Darul Ta’zim level two minutes into the second half before Mohammed Ghaddar grabbed the winner on the hourmark from a suspiciously offside position.
“We were losing at half-time and I don’t think we deserved it because we had four chances,” said Darul Ta’zim coach Ulisses Morais.
“But this is football. In the second half, the players did what we asked of them.
“Our reaction early in the second half was good for us. I want to thank the fans for an almost-full stadium today.”
Perak coach Mehmet Durakovic rued the errors which led to his side’s defeat.
“Darul Ta’zim are a very good side and we got punished from two mistakes,” said Durakovic. “We made a game plan and I was happy that it worked until we made a mistake and the offside cost us the game tonight.”
Kedah coach Nidzam Adzha Yusoff welcomed five players back from the national Under-22 team and one of them, left-back Ariff Farhan Isa, opened the scoring before Ken Ilso and Sandro Mendonca added two each.
“We have a lot of options in every position now and it helps us to plan our tactics and strategies especially in midfield and attack which allowed us to score goals,” said Nidzam, whose side face third-placed Pahang in Kuantan on Aug 5. Devinder Singh