FARIZAL DENIES CHINA IN SHAH ALAM

PETALING JAYA (16 August 2009) – Goalkeeper Mohd Farizal Marlias was the toast for his Malaysian Under-23 side where his excellent performance gave them a well-deserved scoreless draw against China last night.

The deadlock at the Shah Alam Stadium has at least managed to erase the bitter memory of the 5-1 beating the Malaysians suffered at the hands of the Chinese during the Asian Cup 2007.

“He played with a lot of confidence in spite of his 1.78m tall frame,” said K. Rajagobal, the head coach of the Malaysian U23 side.

The 23-year-old, who was in superb form during the visit of Manchester United to Kuala Lumpur last month, made several important saves to deny the Chinese to score their second win in less than a week.

China had beaten Singapore through penalties in a friendly on 12 August at the National Stadium.

“He came off his line twice and denied China what would have been a sure goal (Jiang Ning in the 85th minute and Zheng Long in the 90th minute),“ added Rajagobal.

The next match for the Malaysian U23 squad will be away to Saudi Arabia on 30 August and 1 September, 2009.

The team is being prepared for the SEA Games in Laos at the end of the year.