SETIA ALAM, June 29th – SMK Seksyen 11 from Selangor maintained their position in the top five of Group A of the Minister of Education League Under-14 Football Championship 2025 with strategic partner 100PLUS (MOE-100PLUS U14) after recording a narrow 2-1 victory over Penang’s SMK Mutiara Impian.
As the host, SMK Seksyen 11 clearly dominated the competition and took a 1-0 lead thanks to a low dtrive by Syed Shahir Aidil Syed Zahabi in the 13th minute.
The goal clearly heightened the fighting spirit of head coach Lafizulnizam Abd Latip’s chargers when they doubled the advantage in the first half through Oskar Yusof Oskar Hasdinor who capitalised on a mistake by SMK Mutiara Impian custdian, Mohd Taufik Amri.
However, the visitors fought back into the second half with a more compact play and managed to close the gap through Muhd Fariz Abdullah in the 39th minute.
A series of opportunities were presented to SMK Mutiara Impian to narrow the gap but the Selangor backline stayed firm for the 2-1 result.
Although this was the second consecutive victory for SMK Seksyen 11, Lafizulnizam warned against being complacent.
“We started well and got the early goal but we were a little desperate in the second half. The players should have stayed focussed at the start of the second half and as a result, we struggled in the closing stages for our first win at home.
“The loss in the opening match of the season prodded the players to correct their mistakes which led to us winning our first match a few days ago,” said Lafizulnizam Abd Latip.
Meanwhile, SMK Mutiara Impian assistant coach, Muhd Rakhi Mat Saat, said the early goal affected the momentum of his players but believed it was part of the learning process.
“The early goal surprised us and the second goal was the result of goalkeeper mistake – maybe he was feeling less confident or stressed. In the second half we made changes and strengthened the attack.
“These three matches have not yet shown the true capability of the players. Usually after five matches we will be able to see how they are performing,” said Muhd Rakhi.
SMK Seksyen 11 is currently in fifth place with the same six points with SMK Tunku Anum Tunku Abdul Rahman and SMK Taman Desa Skudai (JDT Academy) while SMK Mutiara Impian is in sixth place with 4 points from one win, one draw and one loss.
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