The pain still remains
Selangor won’t let Kedah deny them the M’sia Cup again
PETALING JAYA: Selangor are hell bent on not letting Kedah deny them the Malaysia Cup for the second straight year.
Last year, the Red Giants lost in a nail-biting final – going down 6-5 in a penalty shootout (1-1, aet) – in front of a sellout 80,000 crowd at the Shah Alam Stadium.
This time, the two teams will clash in the quarter-finals, with coach P. Maniam’s Selangor hosting the first leg at the Selayang Municipal Council Stadium on Saturday.
Attacking midfielder S. Veenod admitted that “the 2016 defeat is still fresh in his mind”.
“How can we forget after battling for more than 120 minutes only to lose in the penalty shootout? We learned a lot from that defeat. We have a chance to make amends when we play them in the quarter-finals this time.
“We are all fired up. We won’t let Kedah stop us from winning the Malaysia Cup, which we last lifted in 2015,” said Veenod.
In the 2016 final, Rizal Ghazali put Kedah ahead in the 52nd minute before Ahmad Hazwan Bakri’s 60th-minute equaliser forced the game into extra-time.
Both teams were then tied at 4-4 after the five mandatory kicks. Man-of-the-match Rizal then scored in the sudden-death shootout while Selangor’s Rizal Fahmi Rosid failed to convert his kick.
Veenod is aware that Kedah will be no pushovers.
“They have an established side, with many young and talented players. We beat them in the 2015 Malaysia Cup final (2-1), so we know how to handle them in the first leg of the quarter-finals.
“It will be difficult playing them in the return leg in Alor Setar. So, we’ll need to get our act right in Selayang,” said Veenod, who scored in the 1-1 draw against Kedah in the Super League in Alor Setar this season.
Selangor do have a balanced side, led by stalwarts such as Mohd Amri Yahyah, Razman Roslan, nippy Indonesian winger Andik Vermanysah, Nigerian defeder Ugo Ukah and Liberian hotshot Francis Doe.