Heat is on for semi-final encounter
heat will be on Terengganu Hockey Team (THT) and Tenaga Nasional when they face each other at 3pm in today’s semifinal return leg of the TNB Cup at the Tun Razak Stadium Stadium.
In the other semi-final return leg match, Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) will take on Maybank at 5pm, also at the same venue.
On Tuesday, THT defeated Tenaga 3-1 while UniKL recorded a comfortable 4-1 victory over Maybank in their respective first leg encounters.
“We will have to warm-up an hour before our 3pm match and it’s going to be quite difficult under current conditions in KL.
“Tenaga have many young legs, so we cannot afford to take our two-goal cushion as a comfort zone,” said THT coach I. Vikneswaran yesterday.
THT can expect a torrid time against Tenaga, who has nine national players.
Tenaga’s only problem is that their goalkeeper S. Kumar is injured. His absence in the first leg saw THT score two soft goals.
UniKL, who played at 3pm in the first leg, are expected to breeze past Maybank again in the return match.
“We were prepared for the 3pm match on Tuesday because we had trained in the afternoon a day earlier. It was still difficult but the players managed to get the desired result.
“And playing at 5pm in the return leg should provide the players with ‘a little’ more comfort,” said UniKL manager Datuk Amir Azhar Ibrahim.
Tenaga Nasional (1) v Terengganu HT (3) (3pm), UniKL (4) v Maybank (1) (5pm) — * matches at Tun Razak Stadium, ** first leg scores in parentheses.