Quiet Alor Star will transform when LionsXII face Kedah

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ALOR STAR - There are no skyscrapers looming overhead, the noise from sparse traffic hardly drowns thought and drivers wait as you cross the street.

With most stores shut and more cats than people up and about, Alor Star comes across as a laid-back little town.

Not a single green-and-yellow Kedah kit was spotted yesterday, with ticket booths at the Darul Aman Stadium not even open.

But the locals warn that this evening, the capital city of Kedah will be transformed, when V Sundramoorthy's LionsXII walk out onto the Darul Aman pitch to face their beloved Kedah.

"It'll definitely be a packed stadium (today) as people will come to see a Singapore team, and it'll be the same wherever they go in Malaysia," said Bashah Zainol Abidin, a former journalist and long-time Kedah fan who proclaims to have never missed a home game since 1974, when he was 18.

"And of course there's the Sundram factor."

The 46-year-old, known as "The Dazzler" in his prime, played for the hijau-kuning with distinction, scoring against Singapore in the 1990 Malaysia Cup final as Kedah triumphed 3-1 for their first win in the tournament.

And he is still a cult figure in these parts.

"That was Sundramoorthy, right? Ooh he was a fantastic player; in those days I never missed a game," said taxi driver Yahaya Abdul Hamid, who instantly recognised the LionsXII coach at the airport.

"I don't think the foreigners we got now - Brazilians Danilo Vivaldo and Daniel Soares - are anywhere near as good."

Fifty-year-old former referee Harif Hassan Osman, who watched on the sidelines as Sundram put his charges through the paces, held the LionsXII boss in equally high regard.

"All of Kedah remembers Sundram," he said, "and I think it's a great idea to get a Singapore team back to play here. Things may be quiet now, but just come see how crowded it'll be (this) afternoon, when tickets go on sale".