A Particle of Boredom

Chelsea made it three wins out of three under Luiz Felipe Scolari with a 2-0 victory over a Malaysia XI on Tuesday. Wins over Guangzhou Pharmaceutical and Chengdu Blades came at a canter, but they were made to work harder to see off a Malaysia XI.

Goals by Nicolas Anelka and Ashley Cole sealed the win, but the Malaysia XI squandered a number of chances. Any thoughts Chelsea had of strolling to victory were snuffed out inside a minute as Amurulhadi Zainal cut in from the right and fired a shot a foot wide of Petr Cech’s goal.

Chelsea played with a real attacking thrust, Shaun Wright-Phillips was an effervescent figure on the flank, and Deco came within a whisker of netting a spectacular opener but his volley direct from a corner was tipped over the bar.

Anelka could well have a key role to play in the new season and he opened the scoring on 26 minutes, collecting a pass from Frank Lampard before slamming a shot across the keeper and into the far corner.

Zainal was a busy figure for the Malaysia XI and he went close to levelling the scores before the break but dragged a shot wide of Cech’s goal.

Ashley Cole was introduced at half time and he made an immediate impact, beating the offside trap and firing home. The Malaysians had a couple of chances just past the hour mark, Zaquan Adha Radzak was denied by the feet of Cech and Zainal fired wide with two team-mates better placed.

Carlo Cudicini replaced Cech midway through the second half and was lucky not to concede in comical circumstances, as he scuffed a clearance straight to a Malaysian striker but he failed to control.

Scolari gave run outs to Andriy Shevchenko and Scott Sinclair as Chelsea continued their winning streak.