MIFA not comfy at the top yet, says coach Devan
PETALING JAYA: MISC-MIFA are perched at the top of Group C in the Malaysia Cup after four games but head coach K. Devan wants his players to keep on fighting to reach the knockout stages.
They play Kelantan in an away game on Aug 31 before their last against defending champions JDT at the MBPJ Stadium on Sept 16.
Devan said they would fight to win at least one more match to book their place in the quarter-finals.
“If you’re sitting on top after four matches and don’t qualify, it’s a big waste,” said Devan on Sunday night after his team drew 2-2 with Kedah at the MBPJ Stadium.
The result meant that MISC-MIFA have seven points, ahead of JDT who have six while Kedah and Kelantan have five and four respectively.
The result was impressive considering that
MISC-MIFA had their top Liberian striker Kpah Sherman sent off for a reckless tackle on a Kedah player on the stroke of half-time.
They came back twice against Kedah, with both their goals by L’Imam Seydi and R. Barathkumar via headers from corner-kicks.
“I think the turning point is after we got the first goal, the boys woke up and played like 11 players,” said Devan, whose team finished third in the Premier League this season.
He said that his players have more belief and confidence in themselves since beating JDT on their home turf.
“They believe in themselves and that they can play with the elite teams,” he said.
He said while his players were relatively inexperienced, they were improving game by game.
Kedah’s assistant head coach Azzmi Abdul Aziz said they missed a golden opportunity to win against 10 men.
“At this high level, when you make mistakes the other teams will take advantage. Something needs to be repaired and tightened for the next game,” he said, referring to the two goals his team conceded through set-pieces.
Brazilian Sandro Da Silva had scored their first goal with a stunning free-kick while Abdul Halim Saari scored their second.
Azzmi said they would go for maximum points in their next two games and did not want to depend on other results to go their way.
“We’ve to work on our performance. We’ve to keep on working hard and make sure the three points come our way,” he said.
For the next game on Aug 31 against JDT, Kedah will welcome back their stalwarts Baddrol Bakhtiar, Rizal Ghazali and Akhyar Rashid, who represented Malaysia at the Asian Games in Indonesia.