S’wak look to Malaysia Cup for redemption
Posted on August 2, 2012, Thursday
KUCHING: After being relegated to play in the Premier League next season, Sarawak is looking ahead to the coming Malaysia Cup for redemption.
A good run in the Malaysia Cup is the perfect remedy for the Crocs after a season full of drama and ‘shadow-play’ that saw Sarawak descended to the second tier while teams that they had soundly beaten-PKNS, FELDA united and JOHOR FC, somehow remained in the Super League.
Baffling indeed as the Crocs was genuinely a better team with wins over the trio in the MSL campaign. This fact and the constant shifting of the goal posts by Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) conspired to deny Sarawak a rightful place in the MSL.
In an exclusive interview with The Borneo Post yesterday, Football Association of Sarawak (FAS) president Datu Sudarsono Osman revealed that it was obviously a sad feeling being relegated but the Crocs will strike back. There is no way that the Crocs will give up just yet.
“We will do all we can to climb back to the Malaysia Super League (MSL) but for now the Malaysia Cup is our priority. We will give our best to win it,” he added.
“It was ironic that we got relegated. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, the standings in the league table counts,” he said.
Relegation was an unfair consequence for the Crocs as it does not reflect Sarawak’s overall 2012 MSL season.
Sudarsono also informed that the coming Malaysia Cup competition will be a test for the current Sarawak players. An assessment will be made based on their performance in the competition.
“FAS will use the coming Malaysia Cup to asses the players that we want to retain for the next season,” he revealed.
For the record, Sarawak’s best result in the competition was reaching the finals in 1997 which they lost to the Brunei team. Sarawak was rather unfortunate during that time as Brunei was the only team permitted to play with import players in the competition.
The 2012 Malaysia Cup draw will be made today with names of the qualified teams placed on pots A, B,C and D. Sarawak will be drawn out of pot C which also includes Johor FC, Felda United and Kedah teams.
Pot A will contain the names of Kelantan, Lions XII, Selangor and Perak. Pot B comprises Terengganu, Negeri Sembilan, PKNS and T-team while Pot D contain Premier League teams-Armed Forces, Pahang, Sime Darby and Johor.
Negeri Sembilan defeated Terengganu 2-1 to win last year’s final.
The tournament will kick off on Aug 24 with the final on October 20 at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
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