Sports

Friday May 22, 2009

Coach Azraai praises players for silencing the critics

By LOGANATH VELLOO

GEORGE TOWN: Kedah coach Mohd Azraai Khor has praised his players for defying the odds to qualify for the second round of the AFC Cup competition.

Prior to the start of the competition, the Canaries were not given much of a chance to get past the group stage. The Malaysian treble champions had to compete with the handicap of not having foreigners to beef up their strength.

Although Kedah lost 1-3 to Chonburi in their final Group G match in Bangkok on Tuesday night, they still squeezed through on goal difference. The Canaries finished second in the standings after Hanoi did them a huge favour by beating Eastern Athletic of Hong Kong earlier in the evening.

Kedah also made it past the group stage of the AFC Cup competition last year before crashing to a 1-7 defeat on aggregate by eventual champions Muharraq of Bahrain in the quarter-finals.

Double duty:Kedah's Sabri Abu played for the national U-23 team against Singapore Thursday Malaysia won 3-0.

“We were written off by certain quarters but managed to pulled it off. I am proud of my players’ achievement, as they never allowed the setback of not having foreigners in the team to derail the target of obtaining a top two finish in Group G,” said Azraai on returning to Alor Setar on Wednesday.

“However, I am disappointed that Kedah eased off the pressure on Chonburi after learning that Eastern had lost in Vietnam. We learnt about the Hanoi-Eastern final result just before half time in Bangkok, and my young players took it easy as they knew that we had already qualified.”

Chonburi skipper Pipob On-mo fired a first-half brace and in between, Kedah’s national midfielder Kyril Muhymeen found the next. The Thais capped their second-half dominance with a goal from Brazilian Douglas.

Kedah’s opponents in the round of 16 are Group H champions Becamex Binh Duong. The Vietnamese champions cannot be taken lightly after emerging tops in a tough group that included Singapore’s Home United and Thai champions Provincial Electric Authority.

The downside to Kedah failing to top their group is that they will not enjoy home ground advantage in the one-off second round match on June 23. They have to travel to Go Dau Stadium in Binh Duong province.

But the prospect of taking on Binh Duong in front of their vociferous Vietnamese supporters is the least of Azraai’s worries right now.

He is more concerned with the well being of his three players — Kyril, Badrol Bakhtiar and Sabri Abu, who played for the national Under-23 in the 3-0 win over their Singapore counterparts yesterday. The trio will join up with the rest of the Canaries for tomorrow’s Super League crunch match against Selangor in Shah Alam.

“It will be taxing for the three players to be playing three matches in the space of five days. I can only hope that they return from national duty in good health,” said Azraai.

“The match against Selangor is important for Kedah as it will allow us to close the gap on one of the teams ahead of us in the standings.”

Third-placed Kedah (31 points) with a game in hand are six points adrift Selangor (37). Leaders Perlis have 38 points.

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