Former English Premier League stars Jason McAteer and Jesper Blomqvist will lend a touch of glamour to the Sultan of Selangor's Cup match at the Shah Alam Stadium today when interim coach P. Maniam will attempt to win his trophy in charge of Selangor.
Safee Sali, too, has been roped in as Selangor try to banish the memories of last year's humiliating 6-0 trouncing by Singapore and regain the Cup after an absence of two years.
Singapore will field their national team including naturalised players Daniel Bennett, Aleksander Duric, and Shi Jiayi but have excluded Qui Li and Mustafic Fahrudin from their 18-man squad.
Singapore will field their national team including naturalised players Daniel Bennett, Aleksander Duric, and Shi Jiayi but have excluded Qui Li and Mustafic Fahrudin from their 18-man squad.
Maniam, who has led Selangor to victories in their last two Malaysia Cup outings since taking over from K. Devan, hopes the inclusion of Safee, McAteer and Blomqvist will add the experience needed to overcome Singapore, who ousted Malaysia 6-4 on aggregate in the recent World Cup qualifiers.
Pelita Jaya's Safee will provide the spark so often missing from Selangor's forward line this season while Swede Blomqvist, 37, and Irishman McAteer, 40, are both expected to feature from the start despite only being involved in a single training session with the team yesterday evening at the Shah Alam Stadium.
"This is the first opportunity for me to deliver a trophy for Selangor and despite what others may say, we desperately want to win. We will be giving it our best and will play all out, especially with Safee and the two foreign players on our side," said Maniam.
"This is the first opportunity for me to deliver a trophy for Selangor and despite what others may say, we desperately want to win. We will be giving it our best and will play all out, especially with Safee and the two foreign players on our side," said Maniam.
Selangor, who won the trophy in 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2008, were joint winners with Singapore in 2004. They will have to pay extra attention to 41-year-old Bosnian-born Duric, who proved to be a handful for Malaysian defenders in the World Cup qualifiers.
Former Manchester United forward Blomqvist and ex-Liverpool winger McAteer are both eager to experience the passion of the 90-year-old rivalry between Selangor and Singapore.
"I will join the training with the Selangor team (today) and meet my team mates first.
"Then, I will see how I can contribute to the team," said Blomqvist when presented to the media on Thursday.
The match kicks off at 9.30pm and will be preceded by a veteran's contest between the former greats of Selangor and Singapore at 8pm.
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