Selangor’s poor run of form continued as they were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Philippines’ Ceres La Salle earlier today, which is their second consecutive draw, after the stalemate against PDRM last weekend.
Though the end result allowed them to strengthen their chances of progressing into the knock-out stages of the AFC Cup, Zainal Abidin’s men were rather poor on the night, as they struggled to create chances, as soon as Patrick Ronaldinho limped off the field with an injury, early on in the first half.
In the first 10 minutes, the match was balanced, with both sides adopting a cautious approach. Andik was probably the liveliest player early on, moving all across the front three to find space, though Ceres’ defenders did enough to contain his threat.
The Indonesia winger fired an attempt on the 12th minute, though his shot narrowly edged over the bar. Stephan Shrock was then released by a clinical through pass on the 25th minute, but the Ceres winger’s cross was expertly collected by the onrushing Norazlan Razali.
On the half-hour mark, Selangor came close to breaking the deadlock as Mauro Olivi went on a solo run, but his left-footed attempt was comfortably tipped away by Ceres goalie, Louie Casas. Olivi had another solid chance 10 minutes later though this time around, it was wide off target.
After the break, Ceres upped their tempo and were almost immediately rewarded on the 48th minute. Thankfully for the home side, Adrian Gallardo’s shot failed to hit the target.
Selangor responded minutes later, by introducing S. Veenod in place of Hazwan Bakri, who was largely ineffective on then flank. That said, it was Ceres who kept creating chances upfront, and Jason Sabio almost got them the first goal, though his 60th minute header went above the bar.
Then came the moment Selangor fans were hoping for. After a clumsy build-up, Olivi found himself inside the box, albeit being closely marked by two Ceres defenders. The Argentinean held the ball expertly, before placing it for Azrif Nasrulhaq, who made no mistakes by firing home from the edge of the six-yard area. Unfortunately for the Red Giants, Azrif was deemed to be offside.
But that incident evidently sparked a little more impetus into Selangor’s tempo, as they launched waves after waves of attacks from midfield. With Ronaldinho missing though, the Red Giants struggled to make an impact in the final third.
Olivi’s free-kick on the 78th minute failed to find the target, and Nazmi Faiz’s attempt five minutes later, had the same outcome as well. Zainal’s men really went for it in the final few minutes, though the score line remained as the referee called for full-time.
While Selangor’s lackluster performance is a major cause for concern, Tampines Rovers’ defeat against Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi means the Red Giants only need a draw from their final match against the Singaporean side, to progress into the quarter-final of the competition.
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