Pertandingan Piala Malaysia bermula Sabtu ini 26 Sept 2009

Dogfight for q-final spot! (NST)

2009/09/24 by Ajitpal Singh

Jadual Perlawanan Kumpulan C:

Pasukan - Perak, Johor FC, UPB-MyTeam, Kuala Lumpur

Pusingan Pertama:

26 Sept 2009: UPB-MyTeam lwn Perak (Stadium Kelana Jaya)

29 Sept 2009: Perak lwn Kuala Lumpur (Stadium Perak)

3 Okt 2009: Johor FC lwn Perak (Stadium JCorp)

Pusingan Kedua:

6 Okt 2009: Perak lwn UPB-MyTeam (Stadium Perak)

10 Okt 2009: Kuala Lumpur lwn Perak (Stadium KL)

13 Okt 2009: Perak lwn Johor FC (Stadium Perak)

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IT will be a close fight in Group C -- which consists Perak, Johor FC, Kuala Lumpur and UPB-MyTeam -- for the right to advance to the Malaysia Cup quarter-finals.

Perak, who are hoping to end their nine-year Malaysia Cup drought, will start without several key players whose absence will surely affect their plans in this year's edition.

Central defenders S. Subramaniam and Mohd Fauzi have been ruled out for the rest of the season while Mohd Shazwan, Mohd Shahrizuan, Sarath Babu (midfielders) and forward K.Thinagaran are still nursing injuries.

Coach M. Karathu has taken pro-active measures by re-shuffling his team's tactics and roping in two midfielders -- Mohd Safuan and Mohd Azrul -- from T-Team, for the campaign.

Razali Umar Kandasamy, the team's top scorer with 13 goals, will spearhead Perak's attack and the striker, who has been hogging the limelight for various reasons, is hoping to impress national coach K. Rajagobal in this competition.

Razali is known as a "difficult character" and often skips training without permission. The 23-year-old, however, wants to start afresh in the Malaysia Cup and hopes his goal-scoring exploits will earn him a spot in the Laos Sea Games squad.

Meanwhile, Johor FC, after their junior team's success in the President's Cup, are optimistic of going one better after last year's semi-finals.

Coach Ramlan Rashid believes it is possible to make the final if his players can reproduce their Super League form again.

The team are known for their attacking ability, having scored 53 goals -- the second highest after Selangor, who scored 64 times -- in the Super League.

Ramlan also enlisted five President Cup players, including 18-goal hero Mohd Rashid Mohd Aya, for the Malaysia Cup.

Mohd Rashid is expected to partner former national player Eddy Helmi Abdul Manan in attack.

Eddy Helmi, a late-starter in the recent Super League because of injury, ended the season with 10 goals.

As for Kuala Lumpur, it has been 20 years since they last won the Malaysia Cup and their current players, with an average age of 23, are not expected to end their drought.


Razip Ismail injected new blood into the team by taking four players on loan from Felda United, for the campaign.

One of the most experienced players in the squad is Mohd Khairi Zainudin, 31.

The KL-born defender started his career with city side before playing for Police, Malacca, Perlis, Perak.

UPB-MyTeam have been making the headlines for the wrong reasons throughout the season with off field issues.

From inept finances to management instability, the team were in the brink of collapsing and had wanted to offload some of the main players for the competition to ease their burden but were rejected by the FA of Malaysia.

It resulted in Croatian-born coach Bojan Hodak quitting the team in July.

Currently, MyTeam are coached by Khan Hung Meng and the former national player is doing his best to prepare a formidable side for the Malaysia Cup.

Hung Meng has injected new ideas into the team and it could spark a new form of enthusiasm in his side.

MyTeam will depend on their national Under-23 players Norharul Idlan Talaha, Bunyamin Umar, Syed Adney Syed Hussein, Azrul Azmi and Azmi Muslim in the competition.

They also have former national skipper Mohd Kaironissan Sahabuddin and Juzaili Samion in their ranks.