The national team’s humiliation by Australia in Canberra on Friday will have to take a back seat as Asia’s oldest competition – the Malaysia Cup – resumes today.
The tournament had to be rescheduled because of the match against the Aussies which saw our boys getting a 5-0 whipping.
Tonight, the 53rd edition of the Malaysia Cup enters the quarter-finals stage with mouth-watering clashes among the last-eight teams.
The top of the pick will be the east coast derby between FA Cup winners Terengganu and Super League champions Kelantan.
Playing on their home turf at the Sultan Ismail Stadium, Terengganu will be the favourites to win the first leg.
The Red Warriors of Kelantan will be out for revenge after losing to Terengganu 1-2 in the FA Cup final in June.
Kelantan coach Datuk M. Karathu said that the team who made the most mistakes would suffer.
“We will play our own brand of football. A win will be great for us but we wouldn’t mind a draw in an away match,” said Karathu.
“We have a 50-50 chance of winning the match and I predict an evenly contested match although we will be the underdogs.
“We didn’t expect to meet Terengganu this soon in the competition but if we get past this tough hurdle, it should stand us in good stead for the next stage.
The Red Warriors will be without nippy winger S. Chanturu, who is sidelined by an ankle injury.
However, Kelantan have enough options on the bench.
Selangor, who are in the hunt for their 33rd Malaysia Cup, face high-flying Perak, who are the only team to stay unbeaten in the group stage.
The resurgent Red Giants, under rookie coach P. Maniam who took over midway into the group stage, aim to come out firing on all cylinders at the Shah Alam Stadium to beat the Seladang.
Perak are still without key players – captain Shahrulnizam Mustapha, striker Akmal Rizal Ahmad Rakhli and goalkeeper Nasril Nourdin. The trio are serving a seven-match suspension for abusing the referee during their Super League match against Sabah in May. They can only return in the semi-final stage of the competition.
But even without the trio for the last five matches, wily coach Norizan Bakar still managed to steer the team to the top of the group in style – by not losing a single match.
Last year’s finalists Negri Sembilan have emerged as one of the favourites of the competition after topping Group C ahead of Terengganu and are eyeing their third straight Malaysia Cup final but first, they have to beat club side Felda United at the MBPJ Stadium.
The Deer’s coach Mohd Azraai Khor Abdullah have worked his magic with the injury-riddled squad and is expected to have no problem against Felda. Negri’s twin terrors, Mohd Aidil Zafuan and Mohd Zaquan Adha Abdul Razak, are expected to make a return to bolster the squad tonight.
In the fourth quarter-finals today, club side T-Team will travel to Kota Kinabalu to take on Sabah at the Likas Stadium.
T-Team, the giant killers of the season, have an edge over the Rhinos as they have seasoned campaigner Indra Putra Mahayuddin spearheading the attack with Fitri Omar and Nor Farhan Mohamad.
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