Saturday October 24, 2009

Intriguing battle for Malaysia Cup semis berths

By ERIC SAMUEL

PETALING JAYA: The battle for the Malaysia Cup semi-final berths reaches its climax in the east coast and up north tonight.

With Kelantan and Terengganu holding the advantage after the first-leg of the quarter-final playoffs against KL Plus FC and Selangor respectively, the return legs at the Sultan Mohd IV Stadium in Kota Baru and the Sultan Ismail Nasirddin Shah Stadium in Kuala Terengganu are set to be fiery affairs.

Kelantan and Terengganu drew 1-1 against KL Plus and Selangor respectively, giving the east coast sides the edge in the away-goal rule.

The other two quarter-final ties see Negri Sembilan and Johor FC travelling up north to Alor Setar and Kangar respectively.

Negri will take on Kuala Muda Naza with a two-goal cushion after winning the first-leg 2-0 while Johor FC will try to overturn a 1-2 deficit against Perlis.

In Kota Baru, coach B. Sathianathan believes Kelantan deserve to be in the final “simply because of their passionate fans”.

Sathia, who took over when Englishman Peter Butler resigned last month, added: “I wish I had a longer time to work with the current team but I feel Kelantan deserve to be in the final because of their passionate fans. If they can get their priority and discipline right, we should get past KL Plus in the return-leg.”

In Apirl, Kelantan, who are seeking their first major silverware in Malaysian football since 1921, qualified for their first FA Cup final in the 19-year history of the knockout competition but were beaten by Selangor 4-1 on penalty kicks after both teams were tied 1-1 in regulation period.

Attention will also be on Selangor, who are seeking an unprecedented quadruple of titles in the Malaysia Super League (MSL) this year. Kedah won the treble back-to-back in 2007 and 2008.

Selangor, under coach K. Devan, have so far won the Charity Shield, the FA Cup and Super League titles.

Up north, Kuala Muda Naza’s bunch of seasoned campaigners will need a Herculean effort to overturn the two-goal deficit against Wan Jamak Wan Hassan’s Negri Sembilan.

The Deer are undefeated in the Malaysia Cup campaign, having won all seven matches so far.

In Kangar, cash-strapped Perlis will have to put aside their monetary woes when they host Johor FC at Stadium Utama.

With everything still to fight for, tonight promises to be an exciting one indeed.

Malaysia Cup, quarter-final, second leg:

Saturday

* Matches kick off at 8.45pm

* State of tie indicated on right

KELANTAN vs KL PLUS 1-1 (Sultan Mohd IV Stadium, Kota Baru)

K. MUDA NAZA vs N. SEMBILAN 0-2 (Darulaman Stadium, Alor Setar)

PERLIS vs JOHOR FC 2-1 (Stadium Utama, Kangar)

TERENGGANU vs SELANGOR 1-1 (Sultan Ismail Stadium, K. Terengganu)