Malaysian international, Safee Sali gets trial with Cardiff City for 2 weeks

Prolific striker Safee Sali will be the first Malaysian striker to get a bite of the cherry at Cardiff City Football Club after being offered a two-week trial.

The Pelita Jaya striker, who has been in scintillating for both club and country lately, has done enough to impress Cardiff City owner Datuk Chan Tien Ghee and merit a trial stint with the Welsh outfit from September 12-27.

Safee is the second Malaysian to be offered the trial after national skipper Safiq Rahim. Safiq was the first to land the deal, but due to his Malaysia Cup commitments with Selangor, the 24-year-old will only be flying off once the competition comes to a close.

Safee has touted as the best striker of his generation. The latest revelation was music to his years as he braces himself for what he said would be “the pinnacle of his career”.

“Every Malaysian football fan follows the English game and I’m no different. Even as a kid, I’ve always dreamt of one day plying my trade in the English league... and now I have a chance to do that with this trial.

“The door has been opened for me. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am going to give it my all to prove my credentials,” said Pelita Jaya's hitman

Meanwhile, Datuk Chan hopes more Malaysians would show worldly promise and potential to hit it big time in football.

“When Safiq managed to get a trial with Cardiff, there was a real good buzz around the club as well as in Malaysia. Now with Safee joining in the fray, hopefully the hype will be heightened and inspire our young and budding footballers to aim only for the sky.

“This effort will bode well for both the club and Malaysia. There’s a lot of talent back home and it’s time we start unearthing the gifted by giving them proper exposure. I think this could be the beginning of a revolution,” said Datuk Chan who took over the Cardiff City last year.

Should Wenger quits Arsenal after Old Trafford humiliation?

Arsenal exposed their biggest weakness when they been demolished by the brilliant Man U last night. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger revealed the club will look to sign at least 3 more players before the transfer window closes after humiliating 8-2 defeat at Man U.

Wenger accepts he is under pressure at the moment but is adamant he will not quit Arsenal, adding that he feels he has earned the right to be judged at the end of the season after 15 years in charge of the club.
“I'm in a public job and I have to accept that,” added the Frenchman. “I make the right decisions for the club and I will continue to try to do that. The players we have sold I also brought to the club.
Wenger says he expects to sign South Korean striker Park Chu Young and wants to add another midfielder and defender to the squad as he comes under pressure from Gunners fans to spend in the transfer market following the high profile sales of Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas.

“After a game like that it's terribly painful,” Wenger told reporters. “It hurts, it was humiliating. We were short in some areas, we had eight players out and they had class. They punished us in front of goal.
“We're working very hard on transfers. We're close to signing a striker [Park] at the moment and we want a defender and a midfielder as well.

“I say I'm very open to finding the right players. If we find the right players we will sign them. We have the money to sign the right players – if we find them we'll do it.
“We have 20 people working on it, I'm not the only one.

“It's difficult when you lose 8-2. It's better that you don't talk too much because it hurts and it looks like you're looking for excuses.

“I feel it was under very special circumstances and what's important is we've played three games of the season. It's not like it's the end of the season, when you make a balanced judgement of the season."

Nasri to Man City: Where will be the direction of Arsenal after this?

Wantaway Arsenal's French architect Samir Nasri deal to Man City is almost done. Nasri who played against Liverpool last week probably the last game in Gunners shirt will be lining up among the very best midfielders in BPL this season. But the main question remain, what's the direction of the Gunners after his lost?

For Arsenal fans, this is a very big lost after talismanic captain Cesc Fabregas leave the club last week for his childhood club, Barcelona FC. For them, after 5-6 years without a silverware, this is a hard time to accept and adapt to this situation. Wenger should be more realistic in a dream to be among the top 4, if he still have the intention, because others rival club like Man City and Liverpool already spent millions of euro to strengthen their club but so far, Wenger only managed to find Gervinho from Lille.

To make it worst than already it is, Gervinho was shown a straight red card in his debut in BPL last 2 weeks. and will not be available until mid-Sep 2011 due to suspension. With a point in 2 games, that was a worst possible start in any campaign.

Now, Wenger should start to invest and inject new players before more his players demand transfer request due to poor management and incapability winning trophies. Arsene Wenger should throw away his ego and be more dependent manager if he still want to seat in that position.

Some transfer speculation went around but I dont see any move towards that.

Wake up Wenger. Your squad is dying!!!

Malaysian billionaire Tan Sri Tony Fernandes in charge of QPR

Malaysian tycoon Tony Fernandes has completed his takeover of Queens Park Rangers, the newly promoted Premier League club confirmed here on Thursday.

Fernandes, the owner of budget airline AirAsia, secured his buyout after assuming a 66 percent stake in the newly promoted West London outfit from previous shareholders Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore.
In a statement, the 47-year-old entrepreneur, who is also the team principal of Formula One's Team Lotus, said he will work alongside the Mittal family, who have retained their 33 percent stake in the club.
Fernandes, who describes himself as a West Ham fan on his Twitter feed, said he had long held a "soft spot" for QPR, which he described as a "raw diamond."

"Everyone knows I've followed West Ham all my life, but I've always had a soft spot for QPR," Fernandes said.

"Rangers were one of the first teams I watched as a child at Loftus Road.

"I've always wanted to be involved in football and the appeal of a London Club, like QPR, was too good an opportunity to turn down."

"QPR is a raw diamond and hopefully I can contribute into turning it into a diamond."
Formula One chief Ecclestone had been the majority owner of QPR for the past five years but had repeatedly signalled his willingness to sell his stake in recent months despite the club's elevation to the English top-flight.
The uncertainty over QPR's ownership had dogged their build-up to the campaign, leading to speculation that manager Neil Warnock's position may be under threat.
Doubts over Warnock's future at Loftus Road are expected to recede however after Fernandes arrival, which will also see the return to the board of vice-chairman Amit Bhatia, a key Warnock ally.
"It was a very difficult decision to resign from the board when I did, so I'm thrilled to be back and would like to thank all those who supported me and my family and look forward to serving the club to the best of my abilities again," Bhatia said on Thursday.

"Tony and I will work alongside each other to try and make this season as exciting and successful as possible. I love this Club and this is a very happy day for me."

Rangers were thrashed 4-0 by Bolton in their opening Premier League game on Saturday, prompting angry chants from sections of the crowd over the club's failure to make transfer funds available to Warnock.
Fernandes, whose personal fortune was put at $330 million by Forbes magazine last year, has reportedly signalled his willingness to bankroll increased transfer spending before the closure of the August window.
West Ham and England £8million-valued midfielder Scott Parker is reportedly at the top of Fernandes' shopping list.

Fernandes warned on Thursday however that his ambitions for QPR would be realistic.
"I could easily say we're going to win the Champions League and the Premier League, but that's really not my style. I don't want to make big promises I can't guarantee," Fernandes said.

"I want the fans to be proud of what we're doing and be involved as much as we can. The fans pay good money and are stakeholders, so whatever we do, I want the fans to be proud. We'll do it in style and with integrity."

WC 2014 Qualifiers: The Lions denied Malaysia for WC dream spot

Malaysia again have to wait for their dream to play in the World Cup after Singapore held the host nation 1-1 last night in the 2nd leg of the 2nd round.

Singapore who won 5-3 in the 1st leg at Jalan Besar Stadium, came to Bukit Jalil was to hold the 2 goals deficits and conquered the possession of the ball last night. Malaysia failed to broke the deadlock in the 1st half and have to thanks his GK, Khairul Fahmi Che Mat who denied 2 point blank shot from Qui Li in the 1st half.

In the 2nd half, Malaysia change the tactical to attacking and they deserve a goal lead through their prolific striker, Safee Sali in the 57 mins. But Shi Jiayi cancelled out in th 71st min after snatched a one on one situation.

Overall, Malaysia with 90,000 fans behind them, played very well compared to their 1st leg but only the experience are the main barriers to the youngsters.

Chelsea turn to share some experience to Malaysian side

After Arsenal and Liverpool entertained millions of their fans in their Asia Tour 2011 respectively in Kuala Lumpur last week, now it's turn for the Villa-Boas men to show their standard.

Chelsea who just touch downed in Malaysia soil yesterday about 1pm local time, will entertain Malaysia on July 21, 2011. Chelsea did not wait to long for their first training session when they trained in Shah Alam Stadium yesterday evening. The session was closed to the fans which saw Villa-Boas men tried to adapt with the environment and the humidity.

All 26 squad arrived in Kuala Lumpur for their first Asia Tour 2011 destination. The name like Torres, Lampard, Terry and Drogba expected to have an open training session today (July 19, 2011) in Bukit Jalil.

After loss to Arsenal (0-4) and Liverpool (3-6) last week, Malaysia squad this time will be trained by the Olympic Squad due to the national squad is preparing for the World Cup 2014 Qualifiers against arch rival Singapore on Saturday. The Ong Kim Swee men is also called some senior players into the squad to balance the gap who left by the Rajagobal men.

 This is not the first time Chelsea in Malaysia. In 2003 during Asia Premier Cup, Chelsea beat Malaysia IX 4-1 and in 2008, Chelsea edge Malaysia 2-0 which saw goal from Anelka and Ashley Cole.

The full squad is:
Petr Cech, Henrique Hilario, Ross Turnbull, Jamal Blackman, Jose Bosingwa, Paulo Ferreira, Branislav Ivanovic, Alex, John Terry, Slobodan Rajkovic, Nathaniel Chalobah, Ashley Cole, Patrick van Aanholt, Ryan Bertrand, John Mikel Obi, Josh McEachran, Frank Lampard, Yossi Benayoun, Billy Clifford, Yury Zhirkov, Florent Malouda, Salomon Kalou, Daniel Sturridge, Nicolas Anelka, Didier Drogba, Fernando Torres.

2014 Brazil World Cup Qualifiers: Malaysia edge Chinese Taipei to set date with rival Singapore.

Malaysia will meet rival Singapore in World Cup Qualifiers 2014 2nd Round after sweat won on away goal rule against Chinese Taipei.

On the 1st leg, goal from Safiq Rahim and Aidil Zafuan on each half gave the Malaysia a 2-1 lead ahead the 2nd leg in Taipei after Po Liang Chen reduced the defisit.

In Taipei, the host nation almost shocked the ASEAN champions when they twice came back from behind to drew the aggregate level 4-4 in a thrilling match. Aidil Zafuan 7th mins and 40th mins Safiq Rahim free kicks gave the Malaysia a lead before Han Cheng, Po Liang Chen and Belgium-born Xavier Chen scored for the host.

In that match exposed some very weak defending from the ASEAN Champs when they conceeds 3 penaltie that saw the Taipei converted 2 out of 3. The Malaysian defense should learnt from this mistakes in order to progress in the nest round.

Singapore will host Malaysia on July 23 at Jalan Besar Stadium before Malaysia entertain the Lion 4 days later.

Hope Datuk Rajagopal men will quickly fix the individual mistake and improve the offensive side.