JOHOR DARUL TA’ZIM

‘I was into Joga Bonito and did not want to become a keeper’ – The remarkable rise of Malaysia custodian Samuel Somerville

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Johor Darul Ta’zim

Penang

Malaysia

The shot stopper started out in the lower leagues of English football and has worked his way up to the Malaysian national team

JOHOR DARUL TA’ZIM

Farnborough is a nice place to live. Placidly lying on the eastern shore of the River Blackwater, less than an hour from London, it boasts a trademark clock house from the late 19th century, the charming Saint Michael’s Abbey, where Napoleon III of France is buried, and an aviation trade exhibition held every other year at the local airfield.

 

No one can question the town’s tranquillity and discreet charm, yet what were the chances of two future stars of the Malaysian national team getting to know each other right here, in northeast Hampshire?

JOHOR DARUL TA’ZIM

Still, this is the very place where Samuel Somerville and Junior Eldstal first got to know each other, in a time when the two could hardly imagine that one day they’d be both sporting the black-and-yellow shirt and singing the Negaraku on  the same pitch.Goal.com

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Samuel Somerville GFX

Franco Ficetola

Jul 08, 2021 12:00+01:00

 

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‘I was into Joga Bonito and did not want to become a keeper’ – The remarkable rise of Malaysia custodian Samuel Somerville

FEATURES

Johor Darul Ta’zim

Penang

Malaysia

The shot stopper started out in the lower leagues of English football and has worked his way up to the Malaysian national team

 

JOHOR DARUL TA’ZIM

Farnborough is a nice place to live. Placidly lying on the eastern shore of the River Blackwater, less than an hour from London, it boasts a trademark clock house from the late 19th century, the charming Saint Michael’s Abbey, where Napoleon III of France is buried, and an aviation trade exhibition held every other year at the local airfield.

 

No one can question the town’s tranquillity and discreet charm, yet what were the chances of two future stars of the Malaysian national team getting to know each other right here, in northeast Hampshire?

 

Still, this is the very place where Samuel Somerville and Junior Eldstal first got to know each other, in a time when the two could hardly imagine that one day they’d be both sporting the black-and-yellow shirt and singing the Negaraku on the same pitch.

 

Article continues below

 

JOHOR DARUL TA’ZIM

“Mine and Junior’s relation developed from the youth team of Farnborough,” Somerville told Goal. “We have a lot of good memories, like getting into the FA Youth Cup’s earlier stages and playing against elite teams such as Cheltenham.

 

“When he was too old to play for the youth team, I was already on loan to Godalming, playing first-team football there, so he went to university but we stayed really good friend.”

 

Farnborough and Godalming are just two stops of a long journey through England’s lower leagues that proved instrumental in Somerville’s development both as goalkeeper and man.

JOHOR DARUL TA’ZIM

“I’m a firm believer that a goalkeeper is better off playing than training, even if he needs to drop a couple of leagues  to get some game time,” he reflected.