2015 MALAYSIA CUP DRAW

The draw for the 2015 Malaysia Cup group stage was carried out this afternoon at a hotel in Petaling Jaya and it has thrown a few interesting match ups between the qualified teams.

Group A

Terengganu is the seeded team here and they will have the FA Cup winners, Lions XII in the group as well as Premier League champions, Kedah. The team formerly known as Johor FA, JDT II complete the line-up.

The east coast side has met the Lions four times this season with two home victories registered over Fandi Ahmad boys and The Turtles snatching a point in the league at Jalan Besar.

The Lions XII only win over Terengganu was in the first leg of the FA Cup when they won 2-1. An extra motivating factor Ahmad Yusof boys is the fact that it was the Lions XII who knocked them out of the FA Cup on away goals' rule.

The Lions did make a trip to Kedah en route to their FA Cup victory with a 4-0 win over FAM League side, Kedah United in the second round.

They also saw off the challenge from JDT II in the quarter-final of the competition, winning both legs 2-0 for a comfortable 4-0 aggregate win.

Kedah meanwhile are the in form team right now, having chased and caught up with Terengganu clubside, T-Team Titans on their way to the second tier title.

With just three defeats in twenty five matches in all competitions this season, Tan Cheng Hoe will definitely feel confident his players can match their Super League counterparts.

However one of those defeats came at the hands of JDT II who shocked them with a 1-0 win at the Darul Aman Stadium in Alor Setar in the FA Cup.

Inconsistencies saw JDT II promotion push falter in the later stage of the season with three defeats and a draw in their last six matches saw them eventually finishing in fifth place, fourteen points adrift of champions, Kedah.

GROUP B

Super League champions, Johor Darul Takzim (JDT) are expected to stroll into the quarter-finals from the looks of things here.

Despite an all Super League teams making up the group, Perak and Sarawak finished in the bottom half of the table while the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) found themselves relegated to the Premier League.

The only thing that could help the trios are JDT's AFC Cup commitments which could end soon if they failed to get the required result in Hong Kong against South China FC.

Thus it will the race for the second spot from this group and the three of them seem to have equal chance of accompanying JDT to the knock-out phase.

One interesting point in this group however, is the on-going feud between JDT and Perak fans with the last incident happening after The Bos Gaurus 2-0 defeat to The Southern Tigers in Johor Bahru.

On their way back, the Perak supporters alleged they were attacked by JDT supporters who threw objects at their buses causing damages and injuries to some.

In the past, there have been a few incidents between the two sets of supporters that saw the intervention of the Police and one could expect them to happen again in the Malaysia Cup.

GROUP C

Selangor will continue with their Mission-33 this season and they look good in getting into the knock-out phase with either Felda United or Kelantan accompanying them.

However, that will depend on Mehmet Durakovic getting his tactics right against the wily Irfan Bakti who pushed The Red Giants all the way in during their two matches this season.

Felda United meanwhile will continue relying on Irfan's man-management skills to motivate his players to get the required results and with the experience of old horses like Indraputra Mahyuddin and Shukor Adan around they could edge it over Kelantan for a place in the last eight.

Kelantan are a shadow of their former self but they still possess enough quality in their squad to reverse the form book.

Players like Khairul Fahmi Che Mat, Badhri Radzi, Norfarhan Mohamad, Wan Zack Haikal, Wan Zaharulnizam and Fakri Saarani could deliver the goods on their day.

T-Team Titans are not expected to play other part than as spoilers in this group.

After losing influential figures like David Oniya who passed away in a friendly, ironically against Kelantan; and their topscorer, Farhod Tadjiev to a long term injury, The Titans simply fell apart.

They only managed to register three wins in their last ten matches and after leading the Premier League table found themselves pipped to the two promotion spots on the last day of the league season after losing to Kuantan FA in a must win battle.

GROUP D

This is a group where Pahang should reign supreme over the inconsistent Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) and Premier League sides, Penang and PKNS FC.

The Elephants did the double over PDRM winning comfortably 5-3 in Shah Alam before registering a 1-0 win in Kuantan.

They also knocked out The Panthers in the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 2-0 win in the first leg seeing them through after Penang held them to a 2-2 draw in the second at The Bandaraya Stadium.

Thus it will be interesting to see who will get the second spot to the knock-out stage between PDRM, Penang and PKNS FC.

The last two meetings between PDRM and Penang were in the 2014 season when The Cops did the double over their opponent on their way to the Premier League title.

The most recent meetings between PDRM and PKNS FC happened in the 2011 season when the latter won both matches.

PKNS FC meanhile pushed Penang for promotion in this season Premier League campaign but dropping points against the likes of DRB Hicom and Sabah eventually saw their challenge faltered.

NAKAJIMA LATE STRIKE SEALS WIN FOR TURTLES

Issey Nakajima was the toast of Terengganu last night when his strike eight minutes from time sealed all three points for Terengganu against a physical Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) side.

Both teams were equal on points before kick-off but the home side started brightly with Nakajima testing PDRM goalkeeper, Badrulzaman Abdul Halim early on.

There were early chances too for defenders Helmi Remeli and Vincent Bikana from deadball situations but both of them failed to find the target.

PDRM players, with former Negeri Sembilan striker turned fullback, Shahurain Abu Samah in particular resorted to physical tactics in order to stop the Terengganu attacks at all cost.

It cost Terengganu their forward, Norshahrul Idlan Talaha who had to be substituted in the 25th minute after a heavy challenge he received from Shahurain early on with Fakhrurazi Musa taking his place.

Terengganu continued to create chances but their players could not hit the target or when they did, found Badrulzaman to be in good form.

After another foul, the referee Wan Mohamad Tarmizi Wan Ibrahim finally flashed the yellow card to Shahurain and his teammate, Mohamad Azrul followed suit a while later together with Bikana for fighting.

Then as the match about to reach the interval another heavy lunge by Shahurain, this time on Ismail Faruqi was deemed legal by Wan Mohamad Tarmizi who waved play on despite the protest by Terengganu players.

The first half theme continued in the second with Terengganu players failing to convert the chances they created.

One player who was really keen to show his stuff was Jaime Braganca who was almost a Terengganu player before The Turtles opted to sign Nakajima instead as the replacement for the injured Hassan Chaito.

Shahurain meanwhile continued to receive 'protection' from Wan Mohamad Tarmizi who should should have flashed a second yellow card to the player on at least two separate occasions.

Instead Wan Tarmizi seemed to be happier in showing the yellow apparatus to Terengganu players with Ismail Faruqi, Fakhrurazi, Helmi Remeli, Gustavo Lopez and Nakajima finding their names in the referee's book for petty fouls.

This did not go down well with the seven thousand plus crowd who started booing the referee and his officials who also seemed to be more lenient towards the visitors who continued to escape with more over the top tackles.

However, justice seemed to be done when Ashari Samsuddin played a one-two with Nakajima and dribbled the ball to the byline before cutting it back into the penalty area finding the Canadian international whose shot gave Badrulzaman no chance at all.

The stadium erupted with joy and relief and Terengganu held on for the rest of the match to win all three points and moved into fourth place.

TITANS HELD BY NS MATRIX AT HOME

T-Team Titans failed to utilise Kedah's stalemate with Penang as they too were held NS Matrix at home last night.

A win for Tomislav Steinbruckner's side would have seen them retaking the top spot of the Premier League from The Canaries.

After a dour first half which saw both sides failing to create any clear cut chance, the match picked up a bit of pace in the second but it was the visitors that opened the scoring.

Former Terengganu striker, Francis Doe took full advantage after the home side failed to clear the ball properly from a free-kick. He received the ball just inside the box and flicked it over former team-mate, Mazuki Yusof before unleashing a low shot past The Titans goalkeeper, Wan Muhammad Azraie.

The lead however lasted only for seven minutes when Sadriddin Abdulaev found Mohamad Nor Hakim inside the box with a pass. The forward then made a short pass to substitute, Muhamad Zulhanizam who turned and made an attempt at the visitor's goal.

It was not a strong shot but it was enough to wrongfoot NS Matrix goalkeeper, Helmi Eliza. The 1-1 score remained until the final whistle despite Josip Milardovic hitting the bar from a free-kick towards the end of the match.

TITANS NEED ALL THREE POINTS TONIGHT

T-Team Titans could return to the summit of the Premier League if they win their encounter with Negeri Sembilan tonight and Kedah fail to win their Northern derby against Penang.

The Titans head coach, Tomislav Steinbruckner is hoping for his team to get back on the winning track after three matches without a win and there is no better time than tonight against the inconsistent Negeri Sembilan.

Without their injured topscorer; Farhod Tadjiev, T-Team are putting their hopes on new signing Tomislav Busic who had opened his goal account with a penalty against JDT II on Friday.

The tall Croatian looked good in the air but he could struggle to get past pacy defenders, thus the plan should be to get good delivery into the box where Busic could do more damage.

A stalemate in the Northern derby would be beneficial to The Titans but they have to do their part of the bargain by getting all the three points.

Two other promotion chasers, PKNS FC and JDT II will square off against one another at the Hang Jebat Stadium while Sabah could get back on a winning track by winning at Kuantan FA.

THT LOST TO KLHC IN CHARITY SHIELD OPENER

Terengganu Hockey Team (THT) lost in their opening match to the 2015 TNB-MHL Premier League season to their arch rivals, Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club.

The match which also served as the curtain raiser Charity Shield was played at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur.

THT took the lead in the 15th minute when Jose Leandro Tolini scored from a penalty corner but the lead did not last long with KLHC hit back through a penalty corner of their own, converted by Pakistani Ali Shan in the 19th minute.

It did not end there as they converted two successive penalty corners in the 20th and 21st minute through Nabil Fiqri and Razie Rahim respectively.

Two field goals by Muhammad Rashid Baharom in the 33rd and 49th minute made the score 5-1 to the home side before Ismail Abu pulled one back in the 52nd minute.

However there was enough time for another KLHC strike when Harvinder Singh scored another field goal in the 58th minute to make the final score 6-2 in favour of KLHC.

The win gave Dharmaraj Abdullah boys three points with a healthy goal difference but for for THT head coach, Sarjit Singh it would be back to the drawing board before their next match against Maybank on Friday at the same venue.

NAKAJIMA HATTRICK LIFTS TURTLES TO SEVENTH

Issey Nakajima made his return to the Terengganu side in style last night by grabbing a 24 minutes hattrick as The Turtles trashed the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) 5-1 at the Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium, Paroi.

Terengganu who had registered two consecutive wins last month since ending their run of six successive defeats, needed to win all three points to push themselves for a better position in the Super League.

They started the match well with Ismail Faruqi testing Syed Adney Syed Hussin in the ATM goal early on.

The pocket sized attacking midfielder then put his team ahead in the 15th minute when he headed home a cross from Sharin Sapien, whose run was spotted by Norshahrul Idlan Talaha who had broken through on the right wing.

However the lead did not last long and in the 23rd minute the score was level again when a foul by Vincent Bikana on Jerry Palacios saw the referee awarding ATM with a free-kick right at the edge of the penalty area.

Abdulafees Salam blast found its way past the Terengganu defensive wall, giving Sharbinee Allawee no chance at all.

The Terengganu goalkeeper had to be alert on a number of occasions too as ATM looked lively in their new 3-5-2 formation. However no more goal was scored and the teams went off at the interval with the score tied at 1-1.

The home side began the second half aggressively and could have taken the lead if Hairuddin Omar's header had been more accurate.

Then four minutes into the half, Terengganu took the lead again. Gustavo Lopez, whose two goals prior to this match came from dead ball situations, made it three when his attempt left Syed Adney grasping thin air.

Terengganu head coach, Ahmad Yusof made his first change in the 52nd minutes with Nakajima coming on for Sharin Sapien. Four minutes later the Japanese-Canadian had his name on the scoresheet.

Ismail darted in from the right and attempted to play a one-two with Ashari Samsuddin but the latter's touch saw the ball rolling away from him.

Out of nowhere came Norshahrul with a burst of speed that took him past two ATM defenders before crossing it across the goalmouth where good anticipation saw Nakajima arriving ahead of a defender to turn the ball over the line.

The joy was clear on his face after only able to watch his team-mates in action since May due to a stomach muscle injury.

With a 3-1 lead, Ahmad Yusof decided to bring Ashari off and replaced him with Fakhrurazi Musa in the 67th minute. The midfielder almost made an immediate impact when his shot from outside the box hit the post with Syed Adney beaten.

In the 73rd minute Fakhrurazi crossed the ball from the right and Nakajima arrived ahead of a defender to turn the ball past Syed Adney. Six minutes later in an almost similar move Nakajima completed his first hat-trick in Terengganu colours.

The win lifted Terengganu into seventh place in the Super League table and they will entertain the Lions XII next on Wednesday.