CIMB-YFA held

CIMB-YFA Held; First Loss for Project 2019

                                     

CIMB-YFA are confident of winning a place in the quarter-finals of the Champion of Champions 2012 despite being held to a scoreless draw by MyKids Kuala Lumpur Tuesday morning at the Gong Badak Field.

N. Radakrishnan, the Technical Director with CIMB-YFA said after the game that even though the team failed to score even a single goal today, still the performance was a lot better than when they thumped First Touch Pahang 5-0 in their first game in Group B yesterday.

“The heavy rain today affected play but we are still confident of making the quarter-finals,” said Radakrishnan. “Our target is to be in the semi-finals again this year. So tomorrow’s match against MyKids Terengganu will be important to see whether we can win the group.”

Following the draw today, CIMB-YFA are currently placed second in Group B behind MyKids Terengganu, who followed up their 3-1 over MyKids Kuala Lumpur yesterday with a 4-0 whitewashing of First Touch Pahang.

Only the best ranked eight teams at the end of the group stage tomorrow will advance to the quarter-finals on 7 Dec 2012.

In the meantime, the 10-year-olds from Project 2019 showed their quality when they prevented free-scoring MyKids Kedah from piling on the goals as they walked away with just a 1-0 loss.

Playing against physically bigger 12-year-old oppositions, the Project 2019 team conceded that one goal early in the second minute when Faez Mohamad slammed the lead for the side from the north. MyKids Kedah had begun their campaign this year with a 5-0 thrashing of MSS Terengganu yesterday.

Project 2019 defender Mohd Alias Alan, who hails from SMK Pasir Putih in Tawau, Sabah said size is not a hindrance.

“Although we are small in size, it does not matter. We believe we can play good football,” said Mohd Alias, who idolizes national captain Safiq Rahim. “I’m really proud to be part of this team as I have gained a lot of experience. I hope to play for Malaysia one day.”

On the other hand defending champions MyKids Perlis came back from their 1-1 draw against Sabah yesterday to completely overwhelmed Kiddo Kickers Melaka 9-0 with Wan Mohd Fitri grabbing a personal best with four goals in the 16th, 18th, 39^th and 42^nd minute.

Invited team Patriot Medan of Indonesia failed to stage a comeback as they had done yesterday when they fell to a 3-1 loss to Sabah.

GROUPINGS

GROUP A – MyKids Perlis, Sabah, Kiddo Kickers, Patriot Medan

GROUP B – MyKids Kuala Lumpur, MyKids Terengganu, CIMB-YFA, First Touch Pahang

GROUP C – MyKids Kedah, MSST, Project 2019, Negeri Sembilan

RESULTS

GROUP A:

Kiddo Kickers Melaka   0      MyKids Perlis              9             

Sabah                        3      Patriot Medan             1     

GROUP B:

CIMB YFA                   0      MyKids Kuala Lumpur   0     

Mykids Terengganu      4      First Touch Pahang      0     

GROUP C:

Project 2019               0      MyKids Kedah             1

MSS Terengganu         1      Negeri Sembilan          2

TOMORROW’S FIXTURES (5 Dec 2012)

GROUP A:

0800 - Patriot Medan vs MyKids Perlis            

0800 – Sabah vs Kiddo Kickers Melaka

GROUP B:

0800 - First Touch Pahang vs MyKids Kuala Lumpur 

0800 – Mykids Terengganu vs CIMB-YFA

GROUP C:

0915 – Negeri Smebilan vs MyKids Kedah      

0915 – MSS Terengganu vs Project 2019

Perlis held, bright start for Patriot Medan

                                    

Defending champions MyKids Perlis stuttered to a 1-1 draw against Sabah while Patriot Medan of Indonesia had a bright start when they came back from two goals down to beat Kiddo Kickers of Melaka 4-2 in the opening day of the Champion of Champions 2012 that was played Monday (3 Dec) at the Gong Badak Field.

The champions had gone into the game confidently but found Sabah a tough nut to crack even though they did score the opening goal early in the tenth minute through Adika Shauqi. But the visiting side from Borneo did not take too long to score the equalizer when Mohd Nasip found the back of the net in the 23^rd minute of play.

“The pressure was on us as we were the defending champion,” said Rosle Md Derus, the head coach of Perlis. “We had only 30% of the winning team from last year and that is why we struggled a bit. The understanding between the players is quite good but obviously, we have to improve from here.”

In the meantime, Patriot Medan showed that they have the quality to win the tournament this year when they overturned a two-goal deficit to beat Kiddo Kickers of Melaka 4-2.

Luqman Hakeem found the back of the net twice for Kiddo Kickers on 28^th and 32^nd minute before the side from Indonesia replied with the four goals.

Bobby Andriza grabbed a brace off goals in the 33^rd and 48^th minute to be followed by Aryo Pratomo (38^th minute) and Ragil Kurniawan (42^nd minute).

“The boys felt pressured at the start but in the second half, we told them to relax and just play with football as they usually do. And the result was that we won,” said an elated Medan head coach Syahril.

“It is good that we won the first game but there are two more matches to play and we have to concentrate. The players showed a lot of promise even though they have been together for just one month.”

Other notable results of the day were CIMB YFA demolishing First Touch Pahang 5-0 while MyKids Kedah were also on a romp when they thrashed MSS Terengganu with the same score line.

On the other hand, the Project 2019 boys had a positive start to their maiden appearance in the Champion of Champions when they held Negeri Sembilan to a 1-1 draw in their Group C tie.

Luqman Hakim’s strike in the 45^th minute cancelled out Aliff Shakirin Azmi’s lead for Negeri Sembilan just a minute earlier. What made the draw interesting was the fact that Project 2019 team featured players under the age of 10-years-old playing against players who are two years older.

GROUPINGS

GROUP A – MyKids Perlis, Sabah, Kiddo Kickers, Patriot Medan

GROUP B – MyKids Kuala Lumpur, MyKids Terengganu, CIMB-YFA, First Touch Pahang

GROUP C – MyKids Kedah, MSST, Project 2019, Negeri Sembilan

RESULTS

GROUP A:

MyKids Perlis              1      Sabah                        1

Kiddo Kickers Melaka   2      Patriot Medan             4

GROUP B:

MyKids Kuala Lumpur   1      Mykids Terengganu      3

CIMB YFA                   5      First Touch Pahang      0

GROUP C:

MyKids Kedah             5      MSS Terengganu         0

Projek 2019                1      Negeri Sembilan          1

TOMORROW’S FIXTURES (4 Dec 2012)

GROUP A:

0800 - Kiddo Kickers Melaka vs MyKids Perlis          

0915 – Sabah vs Patriot Medan    

GROUP B:

0800 - CIMB YFA vs MyKids Kuala Lumpur      

0915 – Mykids Terengganu vs First Touch Pahang   

GROUP C:

0800 - Projek 2019 vs MyKids Kedah     

0915 – MSS Terengganu vs Negeri Sembilan