KUALA LUMPUR: Striker Norsharul Idlan Talaha tied the knot in a private ceremony on Saturday.
Last night, he turned hero for Malaysia in the thumping 3-0 win over Indonesia in the first-leg final of the Asean Football Federation (AFF) tournament.
Norsharul created the opening goal out of nothing. He stole the ball from Mohammad Nasuha from the right and burst into the box from the byline before finding Mohd Safee Sali with an open chance to score.
Norsharul, who was named best striker and the most valuable player (MVP) in the national football awards last month, did the damage again to pave the way for Mohd Ashaari Shamsuddin to score the second goal. Safee scored the third goal for Malaysia, nodding in a cross from Mahali Jasuli.
National coach K. Rajagopal had one word to describe the 24-year-old striker contribution – “special”.
“He did his job out there. Credit goes to all the players but he (Norsharul) is a special player. I would rate him as one of the best strikers in the tournament,” said Rajagopal at the post-match conference.
Rajagopal said that the boys did their jobs well after the breather.
The 26-year-old Safee was also in his element, scoring the goals to take his tally four goals. He is now the top scorer in the competition ahead of Indonesian Christian Gonzales, who has three goals.
“I personally have no target on the number of goals but it is nice to be on top,” said Safee, who said that he would consider a stint abroad and even take up an offer to play in the Indonesia League if it were good.
“As for now, I have a job to do with the national team.”
Rajagopal added that he was extremely pleased that his boys gave Indonesia a taste of their own medicine (Malaysia were routed 1-5 in the opening Group A match in Jakarta).
“What they did to us, we handed them the same tonight. They made us pay from individual errors and we did the same on their mistakes,” he said.
Indonesia coach Alfred Riedle was left a confused man after seeing his team suffer their first defeat in the tournament.
“I think they got nervous after the first goal. I am surprise over the result, too,” said the Austrian.
Indonesia won five straight matches. Besides beating Malaysia, they defeated Laos 6-0 and Thailand 2-1 in the group stage. They defeated the Philippines 1-0 in both the two matches in the semi-finals.
“The goals came fast. I am sure this would have brought everyone back home down to earth. I am the same,” said Riedl.
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