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Thursday October 15, 2009

Kedah coach regrets not getting to beef up attack

By LOGANATH VELLOO

GEORGE TOWN: Kedah coach Mohd Azraai Khor rues the missed opportunities to strengthen the squad that cost the 2007 and 2008 treble champions dearly this season.

The Canaries’ Malaysia Cup title defence ended in the group phase last Tuesday night even though they carved out a 4-0 victory over Penang in their final Group E match.

The third straight win for Kedah gave them the runners-up spot in the group behind Kelantan but it was not enough to secure them a place in the quarter-finals as one of the three best second-place finishers.

The Canaries paid the price for two poor results in Alor Setar earlier – a 1-1 draw against lowly Armed Forces and a 0-1 defeat by Penang.

And Azraai blames the missed chances to sharpen the team’s blunt attack as the main reason for Kedah faring badly on all three fronts – the FA Cup, Super League and Malaysia Cup.

“After two consecutive treble, I can only describe Kedah’s campaign this year as a major disappointment,” he said from Alor Setar yesterday.

“Based on our dismal form in the league, the team management knew scoring goals would be the team’s big problem in the Malaysia Cup as well.

“But they (the Kedah FA) did not act fast enough on the coaches’ recommendations to secure the identified players. As a result, we continued to misfire and crashed out of the Malaysia Cup.”

Kedah truly missed the services of prolific goal-scorer Marlon James, who had to leave the team when the no foreign player rule was implemented this year.

They hired former Penang strikers Farizal Rozali and Azrul Ahmad but the duo failed to live up to expectations. To make matters worse, key attacking player Mohd Khyril Muhymeen was injured and did not feature in their Malaysia Cup campaign.

It is an open secret that Azraai wanted the Kedah FA to sign on Premier League top scorer Haris Safwan Kamal of Terengganu T-Team. But their delay to act allowed KL Plus to snap up the former Selangor striker.

“In terms of the Kedah players’ work rate and commitment, I do not see a decline from the previous two seasons,” said Azraai.

“As pointed out before, our main problem was scoring goals. We have no problem in defence and midfield but the continued difficulty to get goals added pressure on the players in the other areas of the pitch.”

Azraai refused to comment on his position with the Canaries.

He still has a contract to run with the Kedah FA until the end of the 2010 season.

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