Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Kedah tersungkur, NS kenduri gol - Utusan

Sept 30, 2009

KUALA LUMPUR - Juara bertahan, Kedah tersungkur buat kali pertama manakala Negeri Sembilan berkenduri gol dengan membelasah Sarawak 8-0 dalam perlawanan bola sepak Piala Malaysia 2009, semalam.

Gol tunggal sepakan bebas Indra Putra Mahayuddin sudah memadai buat Kelantan melukakan Sang Kenari di Stadium Sultan Mohamed IV, Kota Bharu dalam perlawanan Kumpulan E.

Namun Negeri Sembilan yang berhak bergembira besar termasuk dengan catatan hatrik penyerang muda negara, Mohd. Zaquan Adha Abd. Radzak dalam aksi Kumpulan B di Stadium Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Paroi, Seremban.

Selangor pula melenyapkan keraguan tentang reputasinya selaku juara tiga piala musim ini, Sabtu lalu dengan menumpaskan Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) 3-0 dalam perlawanan Kumpulan D di Stadium Shah Alam.

Trio barisan depan - Amirulhadi Zainal, Safee Sali dan Amri Yahyah masing-masing memastikan tiga mata buat Gergasi Merah dengan sepakan leret, rembatan kanan dan tolakan mudah pada minit ke-17, 38 dan 88.

Naib juara Liga Super, Perlis pula menghela nafas lega di Stadium Utama Negeri, Kangar sekalipun cuba ditentang sengit menerusi gol pemain Pahang, Rahman Kadir dan Badrul Hisani untuk menang 3-2.

Dua jaringan pemenang Kasut Emas musim ini, Nizaruddin Yusof dan Ahmad Fakri Saarani pada minit ketiga, 25 dan 35 mengukuhkan penguasaan Singa Utara sebagai teraju Kumpulan A setakat ini.

Namun KL PLUS sudah kembali dengan mengutip mata penuh apabila membenam Melaka 4-1 di Stadium Bola Sepak Kuala Lumpur hasil dua jaringan Fadzli Saari selain Mohd. Lot Abu Hassan dan Amir Shahrin Abdul Mubin.

Setelah mengekang Kedah 1-1 di Alor Setar, Angkatan Tentera Malaysia (ATM) berkongsi mata lagi apabila seri dengan sebuah lagi pasukan Liga Super, Pulau Pinang 1-1 di Stadium Majlis Perbandaran Selayang.

Kuala Lumpur pula mengejutkan bekas juara Piala Malaysia, Perak 1-0 dengan jaringan Mohd. Badrulhisham pada minit ke-65 daripada gerakan solo selepas diumpan Yong Kuong Yong biarpun kehilangan Kamaruzaman Mahmud kerana kad merah.

Tidak seperti 'abangnya' Johor yang ditumpaskan Terengganu 2-0 di Stadium Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah, Johor FC terus mara dengan kemenangan kedua berturut-turut dan menerajui Kumpulan C selepas menewaskan UPB-MyTeam 4-1.

Setelah menyambar tiga mata dari Kuala Lumpur, anak buah Ramlan Rashid ini menyambung langkah konsisten dengan dua gol Farid Ideris (43 dan 81), Nurul Azwan Roya (47) dan Sumardi Hajalan (69) di Stadium JCorp, Pasir Gudang.

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.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

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)

=====================================================================

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.