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MINUTE DETAIL: MALAYSIAN XI 0 CHELSEA 2

Posted on: Tue 29 Jul 2008

Chelsea Asia Tour 2008 Malaysia Match against Malaysia Select XI at the Shah Alam Stadium on Tuesday, July 29, 2008.

Chelsea first half (4-3-3) Cech (Cudicini 64); Essien, Carvalho (Alex h-t), Terry (c) (Ivanovic 77), Bridge (A Cole h-t); Deco (Shevchenko 64), Mikel, Lampard (Sinclair 77); Wright-Phillips (Ferreira h-t), Anelka (Di Santo 64), J Cole (Malouda h-t).
Manager Luiz Felipe Scolari

Malaysian XI (4-1-4-1) Helmi, Norhafiz, Irwan (Asraruddin 35), Aidil (Subramaniam 81), Fauzie (Shafizan), Amirulhadi, Hardi (Zairo), Indra (Ashari 86), Shukor (c) (Shahril), Safee (Zaquan), Hairuddin (Nizaruddin).
CoachB Sathianathan

Referee Subkhiddin HJ Sallehk

Environment: a warm and humid evening on Chelsea's final match of the 2008 Asian tour.
Kit:
Malaysia - black and yellow striped shirts, black shorts, yellow socks.
Chelsea - blue shirts and shorts, white socks.

First-half
Kick- off Malaysian XI
1 Warning Early mistake by Wayne Bridge allows the opposition a shot on goal, but thankfully for Blues that is just off target.
3 Danger Bright start from the hosts as a free-kick from Indra is deflected towards goal, but Cech holds easily.
6 Attack First Chelsea pressure as Nicolas Anelka powers his way past a defender and into the box. His cross aimed for Lampard is too weak.
9 Errors A mistake by the Malaysian goalkeeper allows Shaun Wright-Phillips to cross, and he almost tees up Joe Cole, before the fumbling goalkeeper gets his hands on the ball at the second attempt.
12 Solo Wright-Phillips goes it alone from near the centre circle, beats three men but sees his left-footed effort blocked.
13 Wow! A Lampard free-kick from the corner is played out to Deco 25 yards out. The Portuguese playmaker unleashes a superb volley destined for the top corner, but sees his effort pushed over by goalkeeper Helmi.
15 Chances Anelka breaks and shoots low on target, before pulling the rebound back for Wright-Phillips who fires over.
23 Shot Essien cuts inside from the right flank and shoots left-footed. There is a slight deflection and the keeper does well to hold.
25 CHELSEA GOAL Nicolas Anelka opens the scoring as he races on to Joe Cole's through ball and fires low into the far corner. It was a quick break from the Blues and finished expertly by the Frenchman.
28 Chance Anelka could have had his second in three minutes, but diverts Wright-Phillips' wicked, inswinging cross over with his head. SWP and Joe Cole have changed wings, with Cole now on the right.
31 Strong Mikel wins possession in the midfield and dances past two challenged before shooting from range. The shot is deflected just wide. From the corner, Cole and Deco combine, and Cole's cross is nearly diverted in to his own net by Norhafiz.
36 Warning Amirulhadi turns inside and out, making space for himself as Carvalho closes. Shooting from the edge of the area he is just off target.
39 Shot John Terry gets into the opposition box and shoots low but tamely as Helmi gathers comfortably.
44 Combination Essien parades forward again and plays a clever one-two with Cole before shooting high into the Malaysian night.
Stoppage time: 1 minute

Half-time: Malaysian XI 0 Chelsea 1

Second-half
Kick-off Chelsea
51 CHELSEA GOAL Ashley Cole, almost the unlikeliest source, doubles the lead after getting forward to support the attack. Malouda crossed low to Lampard who feigned to shoot before laying the ball into Cole's path. Almost as surprised to find himself there as anyone, Cole turned and fired into the top corner.
57 Danger Everybody holds their breath as Alex lines up a free-kick 30 yards from goal. His shot canons off the wall and behind for a Chelsea corner.
61 Block Cech rushes from his goal to prevent a Malaysia goal, going low when one-on-one with the forward to clear the danger.
64 Flowing Malaysia go close after one of the best moves of the game, as three players progressed up the field by simply passing around their Chelsea opponents. The only thing lacking was a finish as the shot rolled tamely wide.
64 Chelsea substitutions Cudicini, Shevchenko and Di Santo replace Cech, Deco and Anelka. It is the Ukrainian's first match involvement of the tour after minor injury.
74 Save Helmi saves well from Essien when the Ghanaian is through on goal. Previously at the other end Cudicini had his first action, saving a long-distance effort.
77 Chelsea substitutions Branislav Ivanovic and Scott Sinclair replace John Terry and Frank Lampard.

Full-time: Malaysian XI 0 Chelsea 2
Shots on target Malaysian XI 4 Chelsea 7
Corners Malaysian XI 0 Chelsea 5
Fouls Malaysian XI 9 Chelsea 6
Offsides Malaysian XI 0 Chelsea 5

Comment
Luiz Felipe Scolari opted to stick with 4-3-3 in the first half but reverted to the experimental 4-4-2 in the second as Di Santo and Shevchenko (playing his first minutes of pre-season) were paired together.
Anelka continued his good form in pre-season with another well-taken goal, making it two from three games, as well as striking a post against Guangzhou.
Ashley Cole's was only his second in a Chelsea shirt, having scored at West Ham in the Premier League on March 1.
This was Franco Di Santo's first appearance for Chelsea in which he has not scored, having bagged goals in both previous games against Guangzhou and Chengdu Blades.