Indeed it was already reported that they were a team to watch by virtue of being a big spender this season. The return of Dollah Salleh as head coach has also raised expectations among their fans and management.
On the night they demolished T-Team, Dollah returned Bola Pantai Timur's Whatsapp message. He wrote, " Thank you. There was no secret at all (for the win)." In fact, Dollah, in response to the rising expectations for his team to be champions again, reportedly said he was no magician.
Still, team manager Dato' Che Nasir Salleh, put it thus: " It boiled down to team spirit and the players' compatibility." However he added that it is still early days and there are many more games to go.
Even so, the massive victory over T-Team is also an eye-opener.
For one, Pahang have six foreign-sounding names in their squad. Here is their line-up against T-Team.
The foreign sounding names comprise Matthew Davies, Francisco Insa Bohigues, Chinedu Bright Ezendu, Jaewon Heo, Sumareh Mohammadou and Matheus Alves Leandro. For the record, all the goals against T-Team were scored by their foreign players.
A closer look on these players reveal some interesting findings. The players' list from Pahang FA's wiki page goes...
In the Nationality column, Matthew Davies, Kiko Insa, Bright Dike and Mohamadou Sumareh are shown to have two flags - each with a Malaysian flag and flags baearing their "previous" nationalities. However, the other foreign players, Heo Jae-won is shown to have the South Korean flag and Matheus Alves has a Brazilian flag in their Nationality columns.
The page was last modified on 29 January 2017, at 21:50.
For Kiko Insa, who is new to Malaysian football, the transfermarket website, www.transfermarkt.co.uk has also listed him as having two nationalities - Malaysian and Spain.
The same website has listed Matthew Davies as a Malaysian national. Unlike Pahang's own wiki page, www.transfermarkt.co.uk has listed Bright Dike and Mohamadou Sumareh as having Nigerian and Gambian nationalities respectively. As for Heo Jae-won, The same website confirms that he is of South Korean origin.
Matheus Alves has both Italian and Brazilian nationalities, according to the transfer market website.
T-Team must have learned the humiliating defeat the hardest way.
It is understood that Insa, the Spaniard, spent a month with them during pre-season trials. They must have their own reasons why they let him go. He subsequently went to Pahang for trials and was selected by the team.
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