Selangor hoping to continue winning run against Perak

After successfully steering Selangor into the Malaysia Cup quarter-finals, coach P. Maniam’s next task is to complete the Red Giants’ “Mission 33” campaign – and that is to win the Cup for the 33rd time.

But first he has to plot for the match against last eight opponents Perak at the Shah Alam Stadium tomorrow.

Just reaching this stage of the competition is already an achievement for Maniam. He took over the team when K. Devan decided to quit with Selangor in a seemingly hopeless position of making the cut.

Maniam, who led Selangor to victory in the 2006 Youth Cup and the 2008 President’s Cup, weaved his magic and the Klang Valley giants turned the odds around by winning their last two matches to finish second to T-Team in Group D.

Selangor’s misfiring forwards found their touch to score six goals in their last two matches to seal their ticket to the quarter-finals.

But their ineffectiveness in front of goal resurfaced in the Sultan of Selangor’s Cup where they failed to capitalise on the chances created and ended up losing 1-0 to Singapore last Saturday.

Maniam’s boys fared better in their 4-2 defeat to the National Under-23 reserves in a friendly match on Thursday as midfielder Azidan Sarudin and striker K. Depan managed to find the back of the net.

“We have a tough match against Perak who are doing very well under Norizan Bakar,” said former international Maniam.

“We are actually the underdogs and we need to work extra hard against them. If all our players give their best, I believe we can beat Perak.”

Perak finished their campaign unbeaten and qualified for the last eight as champions of Group A.

However, he believes that despite the calamitous campaign so far, Selangor are capable of winning the Malaysia Cup.

Maniam is quite confident that national skipper Safiq Rahim and winger Amirulhadi Zainal, who were left out of the international friendly against Australia in Canberra on Friday, will be out to prove their worth against Perak.

“We have several national and former national players with us and I believe we have enough quality in the team.” “The players including the reserves have been doing well in training and friendly matches. It is a good sign for me as I have more options.

“Safiq and Amirul have been playing well lately and I expect them to return to the national team soon.”