Monday, September 28, 2009

Malaysia Cup 2009: No easy route for favourites - NST

2009/09/28 By Devinder Singh and T. N. Alagesh

THE predicted avalanche of goals failed to materialise as minnows Police and Armed Forces served notice that they will not yield easily in the Malaysia Cup.

If Saturday's action was any indication, the favourites are not going to have a free ride to the quarter-finals as defending champions Kedah, Kuala Muda Naza and KL Plus found out the hard way.

But by far the biggest surprises were the two Alor Star-based sides' failure to come away with full points against Selayang-based Police and Forces.

Police, who failed to score a single win in the Super League which resulted in their relegation, stunned Kuala Muda 1-0 in Selayang while Premier League strugglers Forces defied all prediction to hold mighty Kedah 1-1 away.

Perak’s Khairul Izzat Salehuddin (left) and Azmi Muslim of UPB MyTeam battle for the ball in their match on Saturday. Perak won 1-0.

Even relegated Pahang rose to the occasion to hold Plus 1-1 in Kuantan.

After being removed as Police coach at the end of last season, K. Thaiyanathan worked his magic again when he was re-appointed to the position for the Malaysia Cup campaign.

Thaiyanathan, who took Police to the quarter-finals last year, made a few positional changes which caught Kuala Muda cold in the Group D match.

"All I did was to reshuffle the positions of a few players and to utilise my players' superior fitness level. I knew that our ability to run hard would cause a few problems so I told them to chase after every ball," said Thaiyanathan yesterday.

Fauzi Majid was pushed to the front while Silvester Sindih switched to midfield where his height was an advantage in aerial duels as the defenders did well to shackle former national striker Akmal Rizal Ahmad Rakhli.

Not to be outdone, Forces stunned the Darulaman Stadium crowd into silence as M. Chandrasekhar's screaming 35-metre free kick earned the soldiers an unexpected point in Group E.

Azraai Khor Abdullah, the Kedah coach, was left a frustrated man especially having seen his side take a seventh-minute lead through Faizal Abu Bakar.

Pahang coach Dollah Salleh rued his side's failure to convert chances in the Group A match at the Darulmakmur Stadium as he believed that the more fancied Plus was there for the taking.

Abdul Rahman Kadir, on loan from Kuantan Port-Shahzan Muda, marked his Pahang debut with a 46th minute goal before Lot Abu Hassan equalised with a header 13 minutes later.


"We had five clear chances to score during the match but the players squandered them either by shooting high or firing straight into the goalkeeper's hands," Dollah said in Kuantan yesterday.

"The strikers need to score if we are to win matches, and I hope the players will find the net against Perlis on Tuesday (tomorrow)."

The match itself nearly threatened to get out of hand when referee Nazer Said awarded Plus a penalty when Safiq Rahim was brought down on the edge of the area minutes after the opener only to reverse his decision after consulting the linesman.

Furious Plus players protested the decision, which held up play for almost five minutes.

Super League and FA Cup champions Selangor owed their 1-0 win over Sabah to Safee Sali in front of a capacity crowd in Tawau while Perlis registered the biggest win of the day - 2-0 against Malacca.

Johor FC underlined their title aspirations with an accomplished performance to edge an inexperienced Kuala Lumpur side 1-0 in Cheras but KL coach Razip Ismail was able to take some positives away even in defeat.

"We restricted Johor FC to just two chances and we showed despite being a Premier League team we can match the Super League sides. We just need to take our chances better but if we can get something from our next match, the group could be thrown wide open," said Razip after the Group C match on Saturday.

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