KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Cup champions Kuala Lumpur City squandered a string of chances as they were held 0-0 by Indonesian club PSM Makassar in their AFC Cup Group H opener in Cheras today.
Twice the woodwork came to Makassar's rescue while the visiting goalkeeper Reza Pratama was also in his element in pulling off two fine saves at the Kuala Lumpur Football Stadium.
Pratama dived low to turn away a shot by Kuala Lumpur captain Paulo Josue in the 21st minute before producing an even better save in the 39th minute when he diverted with his foot Kevin Koubemba's low point-blank effort.
Early in the second half, Romel Morales let slip the best chance of the match when he had the pick of the goal to aim at, but his thunderous shot cannoned off the post instead while Irfan Zakaria's back-header off a corner-kick bounced off the crossbar in the 68th minute.
Makassar, whose league season has yet to start and were undercooked as a result, did manage to hit the Kuala Lumpur crossbar just before half-time through a speculative effort by Yakob Sayuri.
"There is still one more game to play, so we have a chance," said Kuala Lumpur coach Bojan Hodak of his side's hopes of finishing top of the three-team group.
"We dominated the game but we must respect Makassar for how they played. It's still open in the group."
Makassar coach Bernardo Tavares said it was always his intention to let Kuala Lumpur have possession.
"KL changed tactics to suit us and our strategy was to give them the ball so that we can decide when to press," said Tavares, whose side return to action on Monday against Singapore's Tampines Rovers.
Meanwhile Kedah's AFC Cup campaign got off to a bad start with a 2-0 loss to Bali United in Group G in Indonesia.
In a match played under rainy conditions at the Kapten Wayan Dipta Stadium, Kedah fell behind just before half-time after an own goal by Cameroonian striker Ronald Ngah.
Bali doubled their score in the 82nd minute with a goal by substitute Muhammad Rachmat.
In a Group G match earlier, Cambodia's Visakha beat Kaya-Iloilo of the Philippines 2-1 at the Kapten Wayan Dipta Stadium.