Ready to roar: Brazilian Herlison Caion is one of KL’s three new foreign signings.
PETALING JAYA: Kuala Lumpur coach Bojan Hodak has challenged his charges to hit the ground running in their Super League opener against Penang at the Cheras Football Stadium today.
That’s because slow starts to the season have become a norm for the City Boys. Last year, they lost to Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) 0-3 in their first game and in 2021, they were edged by Penang 0-1.
KL, however, managed to pick up steam later on, finishing sixth in both of those seasons.
But this time, Hodak believes they have the strength in depth and a good pre-season preparation to start with a bang although he would not write off the Panthers for a second.
“We hope to end the ‘curse’ of the slow start, something that happened for the last two seasons. We have an improved squad who started the pre-season early,’’ said the Croatian.
“I’ve reminded the boys about how we started the season for the last two years, and we have to change that.
‘’But that doesn’t mean we’re expecting a cruise against Penang. They have changed a lot of players but still have a good mixture of young and experienced players.
“Their foreign players like Adriano (Narcizo) and Giovane (Gomes) are dangerous, so we have to be really tight on them.
“What we have on our side is the home advantage, so we must make full use of that.’’
KL could parade all three of their new signings – Ivorian striker Tchetche Kipre, Filipino winger Patrick Reichelt and Brazilian striker Herlison Caion – today.
They have also snapped up Danish-Italian utility player Sebastian Avanzini and Croatian centreback Matko Zirdum to complete their quota of nine foreign players.
The ones retained are Australian centreback Giancarlo Gallifuoco, Colombian midfielder Romel Morales, Brazilian playmaker Paulo Josue and Filipino Kevin Ray Mendoza.
As for the local signings, they have roped in leftback Nazirul Naim, midfielder Firdaus Saiyadi, and wingers T. Saravanan and Sean Gan Gianelli.
