All is in readiness for the tenth Sultan Of Selangor’s Cup contest, to be held at Malaysia’s Shah Alam Stadium on Saturday night.
With a curtain-raiser between the veterans at 8pm, the latest battle for the cup between Selangor’s Malaysian Super League team and the Singapore national team, the selection sides for Selangor and Singapore respectively, kicks off an hour later, with both sides claiming to be stronger than they were last year.
The veterans of Selangor got even last year after three successive losses, while the Singapore Selection side, coached by Terry Pathmanathan and spearheaded by Singapore international Aleksandar Duric and then-Etoile FC star Frederic Mendy, won 6-0 in the main event.
There were three foreigners in the Singapore Selection team last year, but in 2011, as the national team will be representing the nation, the playing roster will be made up entirely of Singapore passport holders.
Last year’s Selection side included Mendy, Obadin Gabriel Aikhena and Ivan Jerkovic, who held and indeed still hold French, Nigerian and Croatian nationalities.
Furthermore, the inclusion of Duric, Daniel Bennett and Shi Jiayi meant that more than half the side had been born overseas, leading to mutterings from Malaysia, especially among the media, that last year’s winners were ‘a team full of foreigners’.
National coach Radojko Avramovic takes over from Pathmanathan, who has commitments with S.League club Tanjong Pagar United these days.
Selangor, too, have made changes, with last year’s coach K. Devan making way for his assistant of the last three years, former Selangor star P. Maniam.
Maniam felt his charges will present more problems for the Singapore side than they did last year.
“We had to play the day before in a Malaysia Cup match and we were far too tired to show our best last year,” he recalled.
“It will be different this time,” he vowed.
Maniam took over the team two matches ago, and he knows his players well, having been involved with them as assistant coach for the last three years and before that as President’s Cup coach at youth level.
The Merah Kuning also have three guest players, two of them foreigners, plus Malaysia’s national team captain in the recent World Cup qualifiers against Singapore, Mohd Safee Sali.
Safee returns to his former home ground to link up with his previous Super League teammates, having spent the bulk of this year in Indonesia with Pelita Jaya.
The foreigners are former Liverpool star Jason McAteer, and Sweden’s Jesper Blomqvist, late of Manchester United.
While McAteer and Blomqvist trained with the other players on Friday evening, Safee was not due to join his temporary teammates until the day of the match, and his appearance seems a cameo as much as anything.
On Singapore’s side, Avramovic has had a couple of setbacks leading up to this event, with Fahrudin Mustafic suspended for the forthcoming World Cup game against Jordan on 11 October, plus the continuing absence of fellow midfielder Hariss Harun due to National Service commitments.
The Serbo-Montenegrin has recalled Noh Rahman, previously used mainly as a fullback in his reign as coach, and was clear about the role he has reserved for the SAFFC player.
“I feel Noh Rahman is now ready for the position of defensive midfielder, shielding the ball in front of the defence, and he’ll also be given the opportunity to go forward when he can,” the coach explained.
Shi will play in a similar supporting role, a change from his involvement last year in a more attacking capacity.
Avramovic indicated that he will ‘try a few things’ during the game, and while it is not strictly an experimental team that he will be putting out on Saturday night, he will make adjustments for the absence of Mustafic and Hariss and see how they go.
He could then expect to make further changes in the second half, with both sides restricted to only six substitutes.
Courts Young Lions wingback Ruzaini Zainal will be playing at rightback against Selangor, with the other spots along the backline unchanged, meaning Bennett and Safuwan Baharudin will play in the middle with Shaiful Esah on the left.
The team will have Hafiz Rahim, Shahril Ishak and Fazrul Nawaz in supporting attacking roles, just behind lone striker Duric.
“We know they are a tough team,” the Lions coach said of Selangor, “and we have players out, but we should be able to put up a good performance against them.”
Selangor have won their last two group games in the Malaysia Cup, beating PDRM 4-1 and Kuala Lumpur 2-1, and next meet Perak in their first knockout tie, which is played over two legs and begins on 10 October.
Singapore are using the match not only for bragging rights, but as preparation for the World Cup home game against Jordan the day after Selangor entertain Perak at Shah Alam.
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