Carlos Eduardo’s sole first half strike was more than enough as Kedah secured a narrow 1-0 win over Terengganu at the Darul Aman Stadium tonight.
Kedah donned their traditional yellow and green kit, while Terengganu wore their usual white kit. Tan Cheng Hoe fielded all four of his foreign players whereas Ahmad Yusof could only manage two in his starting line-up, with new signing Juan Jose Morales on the bench. Canadian-born Issey Nakajima missed the match due to injury concerns.
Terengganu started the game brightly, controlling the tempo, much to the delight of the away fans. However, Kedah immediately turned the game around by applying short passes and fast movement between the players. Fan-favourite Baddrol Bakhtiar saw his shot from outside the box went just wide on the 4th minute.
South Korean defender Bang Seung-Hwan missed the target from close distance on the 9th minute, before coming close again to see his header saved by Terengganu goalkeeper Sharbinee Allawee.
Terengganu were not able to cope with the pace of The Red Eagles, thus conceding several fouls. Things went from bad to worse for The Turtles as Gustavo Lopez limped off the field on the 23rd minute after suffering a knock. The situation escalated when Baddrol Bakhtiar escaped a booking for using his hand to control the ball seven minutes from time.
Kedah finally took the lead on the verge of half-time, after former Borussia Monchengladbach forward Carlos Eduardo slotted it home from close distance to send the home fans into bliss. This was the first goal of Kedah’s MSL season.
The tempo slowed down after the break, with both sides producing a few attacks of their own. Terengganu seemed like they wanted it more than Kedah, but were let down by a number of poor passes.
Juan Jose Morales was introduced early on in the second half, though he failed to impress as Ahmad Yusof’s side did not manage to find the final touches to link up the play between the players. The Argentinian found the back of the net in the last seconds of the game, but was unfortunately ruled offside.
Despite the late onslaught, Kedah eventually held on to protect their lead and ultimately clinched their first win of the season.
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