Terengganu have cleared one tough hurdle after eliminating defending champions Kelantan in the Malaysia Cup quarter-finals.
Now, another giant – Selangor – stand before them in their bid to reach the final.
Terengganu and Selangor will meet in the semi-final, first-leg at the Shah Alam Stadium tonight before squaring off in the return leg at the Sultan Ismail Stadium on Saturday.
However, coach Irfan Bakti insists his team are not daunted at the prospect of facing the Red Giants.
“They are a formidable team but they are not invincible,” he said during the team’s training session on Sunday.
“My players’ confidence has increased 10-fold since we beat arch-rivals Kelantan.”
The Turtles will be boosted with the return of defender Mohd Zubir Mohd Azmi and midfielder Ismail Faruqi, who were suspended for the second-leg tie against the Red Warriors.
Irfan said they planned to have a real go at the Red Giants today in search of the valuable away goals.
Terengganu’s task might be made a little easier as Selangor have confirmed that skipper Amri Yahyah is definitely out of today’s match.
Amri was taken out in the first half of their 1-0 quarter-final second leg win over Perak in Ipoh on Friday with a knee injury. The Red Giants won 4-1 on aggregate to reach the semi-finals.
It was confirmed that he has a meniscus tear on his right knee and he is expected to be sidelined for two weeks, thus ruling him out of the return leg clash and the final.
Selangor coach P. Maniam, however, is not too bothered as he has an able replacement in Rudie Ramli.
“We are prepared to take on Terengganu without him. After all, he hasn’t been training with us since Friday,” said Maniam.
“We have Rudie and Azidan Sarudin as replacements. It’s not a big deal.”
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