Red-hot Selangor wary of notorious Perak

SELANGOR host Perak in a Malaysian Super League match at the Shah AlamStadium tonight and it is expected to be a cracker. Following their impressive 4-1 win against MSL defending championsKedah in the Charity Shield last Saturday which surprised most fans,Selangor must be treated as title contenders even at this early stage ofthe competition. "Definitely I did not expect to win with a big margin, but we did andnow we have to focus on Perak who are a terrific side. They won theirfirst match (against Kuala Muda Naza) as well, so it will be close," saidSelangor coach K. Devan. The terrific performances of Selangor skipper Amri Yahyah, strikerSafee Sali and Hardi Jaafar on Saturday must have Devan rubbing his handswith glee. "The three played well but the others did their part and played as ateam. We are more focused on teamwork rather than individualperformances," added Devan. "I have warned all the players not to be complacent after the winagainst Kedah as we have a long way to go. We must collect three pointstomorrow (today) at home." Perak, now coached by M. Karathu who needs no introduction to localfootball fans, will be looking to pull off an upset. Their home win on Saturday against Kuala Muda Naza may have beenagainst a weaker team but nonetheless, Perak are always a dangerous sidewhen underestimated. The Negri Sembilan-Kedah encounter at the Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadiumin Paroi is also expected to be an exciting affair. After Saturday's humiliation, Kedah fans will be hoping that their teamreturn with three points, while Negri Sembilan, who beat Penang 3-0 lastSaturday, will want to continue their winning ways. Negri coach Wan Jamak Wan Hassan wants his charges to keep their focus. "The players did well against Penang, but up against Kedah tomorrow(today), the boys will have to work harder," said Wan Jamak

Helmi facing double whammy after another horror showing

GOALKEEPER Mohd Helmi Eliza will not be called up for national team dutyif he loses his place in the Kedah team for the Malaysian Super League(MSL). Helmi had a bad match against Selangor on Saturday letting in threesoft goals before he was replaced in the first half. Helmi's poorperformances started at the Asean Championship where he let in threegoals against Vietnam which ended Malaysia's run in the tournament. National coach B. Sathianathan hopes that the twice MSL Goalkeeper ofthe Year will find his way back to the top. "It's easy for everyone to criticise him because he has not beenplaying well, but I think he needs a lot of support to boost hisconfidence level. "Helmi is still the best goalkeeper in the country. I am sure Kedah aredoing all they can to help him," said Sathianathan at Wisma FAM yesterday. But the coach also made it clear that Helmi will only play for thenational team if he regains his form and remains consistent with hisperformances. "The players who are selected to the national team are those whoperform well at the MSL level, and if Helmi can fight his way back thedoor is always open to him. I will be speaking to him to see how best Ican help him," said Sathianathan. In the absence of Helmi UPB MyTeam goalkeeper Syed Adney Syed Husseinand Selangor's Hamsani Ahmad may get their chance to prove themselves. "We have very few goalkeepers who can play at international level. Ihave to see from these two which one will be a better option for theAsian Qualifiers. "Whatever happens we are up against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) andthe goalkeeper must have enough confidence to play." added Sathianathan. The national team report for training on Jan 14 and will take on UAE atthe Petaling Jaya Stadium five days later.

Kedah coach remains confident

DESPITE their 4-1 defeat to Selangor in the Charity Shield match at theDarulaman Stadium in Alor Star, Kedah coach Azraai Khor remains confidentfor tomorrow's Malaysia Super League match against Negri Sembilan at theParoi Stadium. Even though Azraai, who was surprised with the scoreline of Saturday'smatch, believes his boys will pull themselves together and rise to theoccasion. "I never expected such a score as the match was evenly contested," saidAzraai. "All three goals were flukes, but Safee Sali's strike was aclassic. But the competition has just started and there is still a longway to go." Azraai is expected to rest national goalkeeper Mohd Helmi Eliza fortomorrow's match as his form has been shaken after he was beaten threetimes on Saturday. Helmi, who also had a poor run in the recent Asean Championship inPhuket, seems to be suffering from a confidence crisis. "I will give hima rest as at the moment his confidence level is at an all time low.Thereare certain issues he needs to address before being fielded again," saidAzraai. Reserve keeper Muhammad Al-Hafiz Hamzah, who played in the second halfagainst Selangor, will be in the Kedah line-up. While Kedah will be sorting out their problems, Selangor are walkingtall after Saturday's impressive win. "It was a good start for us, and wehope this will continue. But as usual, we will take one match at a time,"said Selangor coach K. Devan. Perak, now coached by M. Karathu, collected three points when they beatMSL newcomers Kuala Muda Naza 3-0 at the Perak Stadium. Penang, as expected, lost 3-0 to Negri Sembilan at the City Stadium.UPB MyTeam,unimpressive last season, got off to a flying start with a 3-0win against Police at the Paroi Stadium. Terengganu lost 3-2 to Perlis at the Sultan Mizan Stadium in KualaTerengganu, while Johor FC edged Pahang 3-2 at the Darulmakmur Stadium inKuantan.

Coaches seek AFC help in licensing row

THE Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is investigating a complaint bythree local coaches who have accused the FA of Malaysia of irregularitiesin an A Licence coaching course. The three, who are prominent figures in the football fraternity,accused FAM's coaching department of lack of professionalism inconducting the course. The course saw 10 out of 21 getting through the theory and practicalexams. The three were among those who didn't get through and they aredemanding a review of their test papers. "We feel we have been victimised and that the coaching department wasnot fair in evaluating the results. We have have complained to the AFCand asked for a review," said one of the coaches who declined to beidentified. Under FAM rules, only A Licence holders can coach in the MalaysianSuper League and Premier League. Previously, the AFC refused to endorse FAM's A Licence as it said thesyllabus was outdated.

Expect more politics than action

SO what can we expect from the Malaysian Super League which kicks offtoday? Critics say nothing much as whatever quality there was has gone out thewindow following the FA of Malaysia's (FAM) decision to bar foreignplayers. It was, as is the case with most FAM decisions, forced on thenational body by certain affiliates who said they couldn't afford to hireforeigners. That should have the locals rejoicing as each team will now have anadditional three homegrown players strutting their stuff although criticsare not all that expectant. Malaysia's lack of quality was seen in the recent Asean Championshipwhere the national team failed to qualify for the semi-finals for thefirst time since 1998 and this has a lot to do with what is not beingdone in the states. FAM decisions have been ignored and one that has been convenientlyforgotten by some states is the need for players to pass a fitness testbefore a playing licence is issued. What it means is additional headache for the national team coach whenthe players report for the Asian Cup Qualifier training on Jan 14. It is a shocking development, although it is common knowledge that moststates can't be bothered about the national team. What is surprising though is these teams are not insisting on fitplayers despite knowing that Malaysian fans, regularly fed on a diet oftop quality football from Europe, expect a higher standard in the MSL. If the presence of foreign players helped hide just how unfit mostMalaysian players were, their absence is going to expose the truth and itwill not be a surprise if most teams play before near-empty stadiums. But the show, as they say, must go on and we can also expect theperennial problems to rear their ugly head sooner rather than later. FAM has yet to settle several disputes from last year over non-paymentof wages but it won't be long before new problems and allegations emerge. The grapevine is already abuzz that certain senior players areattempting to take advantage of this by recruiting members to fixmatches. It may sound incredulous, considering the MSL's poor following,but there still seems to be a betting market. Malaysian football has never recovered from the bribery crackdown in1994-95 and if the match-fixing disease is allowed to make a comeback, itcould well signal the end for football. We can also expect, given the credit crunch, more teams reneging ontheir EPF and income tax payments and there will be one or twoassociations taken to court as FAM has failed to deal with its errantaffiliates. Other than public rebukes, FAM hasn't shown any muscle in getting itsaffiliates to be more responsible in their management and as long as thisprevails, nobody is going to be worried about punitive action. Only FAM will be affected as certain foreign players have taken theirproblems to Fifa, which will only tarnish FAM's name. On the playing field, it will be interesting to see just how good Kedahare this year minus their three foreign players. While the back-to-back trebles in 2007 and 2008 were very much a teameffort, it is an undeniable fact that the three foreigners were hugelyinfluential. The MSL will also see the debut of two clubs - Kuala Muda Naza and KLPlus FC - and it will be interesting to see whether they will be able tocope with the challenge on the pitch as well as financially. The situation is drastic in some states with Perak losing 27 playersfrom last season's challenge with only national defender S.Subramaniamstaying put while Kelantan will be playing in the MSL via a backdoorentry. So prepare for yet another season of Malaysian football which promisesmore politics than quality action.

Amended rating system awaits approval

THE rating system for national associations has been amended with newscores and is now awaiting approval from Sports Minister Datuk SeriIsmail Sabri Yaakob. The amended rating system was submitted to Ismail, who had earliercalled for improvements, last week. Ismail had expressed dissatisfaction with the earlier rating system ashe felt it was flawed as certain associations which had not beendelivering obtained high marks while those who have, received low scores. The rating system has many associations worried as how they performwill determine the amount of government funding they will receive infuture. "We have submitted the report with some changes. Instead of groupingthe scores, we have now given individual scores akin to a report card forthe associations," said Olympic Council of Malaysia deputy presidentDatuk Dr M. Jegathesan. The National Sports Council, the National Sports Institute and OCM weretasked with preparing the rating system. Earlier, the committee looked at three areas - governance, programmesand achievements - and the associations were asked to answer 124questions. The first 57 were on governance, 34 on programmes and 33 onachievements and 47 national associations were tasked with answering thequestions. Marks were given based on a total score and this irked someassociations who, despite having better track records, scored lower asthey did not "modify" their answers. Of the 47 associations, only three received five star ratings while 11received four stars. Of the three associations which got five stars, the SRA of Malaysia wasthe highest with 93.92 per cent for governance, 89.47 per cent forprogrammes and 100 per cent for achievements for a 93.52 total. The Sepak Takraw Association of Malaysia, which withdrew from the 2007Korat Sea Games over a dispute pertaining to the type of balls used,received 92.50 for governance, 93.24 for programmes and 87.90 forachievements for a 92.14 total while lawn bowls was awarded 90.10 forgovernance, 92.11 for programmes and 100 per cent for achievements for a91.81 total. What surprised many was bowling's failure to obtain a five-star rating,especially as the Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress (MTBC) not only hasgood governance and development programmes, it has a large pool ofbowlers who consistently win honours on the international stage. Jegathesan said the rating system is now fairer as individual scoreswere awarded. "We will leave it to the Sports Minister to decide which aspect will beused since funding is involved." Hopefully, there are no problems this time as the rating system wassupposed to have been in place in 2008.

Still clueless about CYC saga

THERE has been a deafening silence on the Champions Youth Cup (CYC) sinceit was called off last year but it is not because the Sports Ministry isnot pursuing the matter. The ministry had already disbursed RM14 million to promoter GiftedGroup before the Aug 2-16 tournament was called off after the FA ofMalaysia (FAM) refused to sanction it. The ministry only managed to stop the final scheduled payment and asboth parties couldn't come to a compromise, the matter was referred toarbitration. Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the matter had yetto be settled. "As both parties couldn't agree, the issue was refered to arbitration.However, we are still waiting for the Attorney General's Office toappoint the arbitration panel. "Both parties also have to agree to the composition of the panel," saidIsmail Sabri on Wednesday. Gifted Group, in a statement released in June, said it held the SportsMinistry liable for all damages and losses incurred but Ismail Sabridisputed this. "As far I am concerned, we did not frustrate the contract as it wasGifted Group which failed to get FAM's sanction." Ismail Sabri was also resigned to the fact that the RM14 million maynot be recouped. "Of course we want the money back as it belongs to the people. "However, it is not going to be an easy task as there are plenty oflegal matters involved and it is going to be a long process, but Ibelieve we have a chance because we did not violate the contract." Held for the first time in 2006, the CYC was a tournament featuring theUnder-19 teams of some of Europe's biggest clubs - Christopher Raj