The Red Eagles are through to the FA Cup final!
An early goal by Liridon Krasniqi, followed by goals by Ken Ilso and Sandro sealed Terengganu’s fate and put an end to their FA Cup dreams.
It was Terengganu that started out aggressive and controlled the first few minutes of the game. They were awarded an early corner at the 3rd minute, and Lazaro tried to head in the cross by Ferris Danial — but he missed.
Kedah then took over the game to show the Turtles how it’s done. Kedah worked their way into Terengganu’s half, and Liridon carefully worked together with Sandro to make the magic happen.
Liridon’s first shot was saved by Amierul Hakimi, who parries it away; the ball headed towards Syazwan Zainon, who attempts a shot but the ball is deflected towards Liridon, who immediately reacted and sent the ball into the back of the net. That goal gave Kedah the lead at the 5th minute.
But that did not hamper Terengganu’s spirit. On the 13th minute, Terengganu’s “Messi”, Faiz, tried to find Issey with a cross, but Kedah’s defenders were too alert to allow anything to happen.
The Turtles kept on going — but another cross, this time by Lutfullah Turaev was too easy for Kedah’s goalkeeper, Ifwat Akmal, who was standing by to thwart any effort by Terengganu’s forwards.
A terrible mistake by Shukor Jusoh on the 28th minute sent the ball to Ken Ilso, who wasted no time in exploiting the holes in Terengganu’s defence, as he dribbled past Terengganu defenders and sent a powerful right-footed shot past goalkeeper Amierul Hakimi.
On the 32nd minute, Issey tried to make something happen as he sprinted forward and tried to find Faiz for a cross but he was thwarted by Ifwat Akmal once again.
Terengganu was presented with a golden opportunity to get even when Shukor was brought down at the edge of the box at the 38th minute – and a free kick was awarded to Terengganu. Lazaro took the free kick, and he aimed for the top right corner of the post. His shot, although impressive, was slightly off target.
Just before halftime, Latiff tried to find Lutfullah at the 46th minute, but once again thwarted by Kedah’s defence. A corner for Terengganu saw Faiz sending a cross into the box, but Ifwat parried it to safety.
At the 47th minute, a beautiful back pass by Liridon found Sandro, who engaged in an impressive one-two passing with Ken Ilso on the right. Sandro made the run and passed the ball to Ken Ilso, and created space for himself within seconds – and when Ilso passed the ball back to him, he was unmarked and sent the ball into the back of the net.
At this point, Terengganu seemed to be running out of options to break Kedah’s defence – until Parthiban came on for Ferris Danial. Within minutes into the second half, Parthiban kept Kedah’s defenders busy with multiple dangerous crosses into the box.
It seemed like Terengganu were about to get their first goal of the night when Issey tried to make a run on the 58th minute after receiving a long ball from Lutfullah, but he was flagged offside.
On the 83rd minute, Parthiban sent a dangerous cross to Firdaus when Ifwat was distracted. Perfect chance for the Turtles to score, but Firdaus missed the shot as it was a panic attempt and went up high.
Kedah’s 85th minute substitution saw Farhan Roslan coming on for Akram Mahinan. Within two minutes, Farhan caused mayhem in the Terengganu defence as the sprinted down on the right and tried to take a shot — but it goes wide.
Terengganu were relentless, they kept on pushing for a goal until the very last minute, but Kedah’s defence proved too good for them. Kedah, however, slowed down towards the end of the game and focused more on defending their three hard-earned goals of the night.
After the 4 additional minutes, the Red Eagles walked away victoriously — having secured a spot in the FA Cup final.
94' FT: TER 0-3 KED (0-4 agg) #TERKED #PialaFA2017
— StadiumMY 🇲🇾 (@StadiumMY) May 13, 2017
Kedah will be facing Pahang next Saturday, May 20th, in the FA Cup final. Earlier last night, Pahang defeated Negeri Sembilan 2-1 (3-1 on agg) thanks to goals from Christie Jayaseelan and Lee Jae Won.
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