Giants on guard
Cheng Hoe remains cautious despite a three-goal cushion
PETALING JAYA: Selangor coach Tan Cheng Hoe hailed his players’ superb display in the first leg of the Malaysia Cup semi-final against Terengganu at the PJ City Stadium on Wednesday but has cautioned against a backlash in the return leg on Monday.
Selangor have been a different side and had stayed unbeaten since Cheng Hoe took over from Michael Feichtenbeiner on Sept 24, and showed their might again by beating Terengganu 3-1 to stay in the drivers’ seat.
However, Nafuzi Zain’s Turtles are known to be fighters and Cheng Hoe believes it will be a tough away match at the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium in Kuala Terengganu.
Selangor’s goals came from Mukhairi Ajmal Mahadi’s corner kicks which were headed in by Richmond Ankrah (37th minute) , Herlison Caion (43rd minute) and Sharul Nazeem Zulpakar (54th minute).
Terengganu scored early from a Tchetche Kipre freekick in the 19th minute before Selangor took control of the match.
The former national team coach said all three Selangor goals came from corner kicks, which was a first for him in his coaching career.
“This is the first time as a coach that my team have scored all the goals through corners but it was not a fluke. We had trained for it and I was confident with Mukhairi’s quality deliveries and the reason why my strikers could score those goals,” said Cheng Hoe.
“It was an amazing performance from my players who worked hard to stop Terengganu from scoring and managed to get three goals as the cushion before the away game.
“There is still 90 minutes left to play and we know Terengganu’s strength when they play at their homeground.
“We are still not assured of a place in the final despite the advantage as we cannot take our opponents for granted because Terengganu’s strike force is solid and dangerous.”
Selangor were the kingpins of the Malaysia Cup where they have won a record 33 crowns but their last victory came in 2015. They also entered the final in 2016 but lost.
Nafuzi, who set to leave at the end of the season, would be looking to prove a point although it will be a tall order to turn the tables against a resurgent Selangor.
“We played well despite playing away and the lack of focus during set pieces let us down. We know the quality of Selangor but there is another 90 minutes to play for, and we will give our best in our bid to make it to the final,” said Nafuzi.
The last time the two teams met in the semi-finals of the Malaysia Cup was in the 2011 edition which saw Terengganu win 4-1 on aggregate.