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Friday October 23, 2009

It’s not over yet Anuar:for Kuala Muda

By ERIC SAMUEL

PETALING JAYA: Kuala Muda Naza are not about to throw in the towel.

Their bunch of seasoned hands are thinking about staging a great comeback to overturn a 0-2 deficit against Negri Sembilan in the Malaysia Cup quarter-final second-leg match at the Darulaman Stadium in Alor Setar tomorrow.

Skipper Anuar Jusoh said that he had faith in his team-mates to carry out the Herculean task.

“In football anything is possible ... we have seen teams coming back from two or three goals down to snatch victory,” he said in motivating the team to upset the odds.

“Kuala Muda are in the Malaysia Cup competition for the first time but we are not short on experience. We have many seasoned players and with a bit of luck we can write one of the biggest comeback stories in the competition.”

However, the 37-year-old midfielder will be a mere spectator when his team-mates battle it out at the Darulaman Stadium tomorrow. He has to serve a two-match suspension for striking Negri midfielder Idris Karim on the face in the first-leg match in Paroi.

“It is a cruel blow to sit out an important match. What I did was in the heat of the moment. In my absence, I am still confident that the team will fight gallantly. We hope to get an early goal to put us back in strong contention,” said Anuar.

Kuala Muda got into the quarter-finals as the third of three best second-placed teams in the five-group preliminaries – pipping the more fancied Perak and defending champions Kedah.

They have the backbone of the squad who lifted the 2007-08 Premier League title. Among them are B. Rajanikandh, Akmal Rizal Rakhli, Manzoor Azwira, Azizon Abdul Kadir, K. Rajan and Liew Kit Kong.

But Kuala Muda will find Negri a hard nut to crack. Coach Wan Jamak Wan Hassan has a team who have won all their seven matches thus far in the competition.

Negri have a good mix of seasoned hands and current national players in the squad, among them Mohd Shukor Adan, Idris Karim, Rezal Zambery Yahaya, Ching Hong Aik, Mohd Rahman Zabul, S. Kunalan, Mohd Aidil Zafuan Abdul Razak and Mohd Zaquan Adha Abdul Razak.

The Deer are further strengthened by Hairuddin Omar, who is on loan from T-Team Terengganu.

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