Bojan Hodak
KUCHING: Kelantan head coach Bojan Hodak was full of praise for his team after defeating homesters Sarawak 2-0 in the second leg FA Cup quarter-final despite having to go through a tiring week.
He said the players appeared to have followed the instructions given to attack as soon as the match began.
“As I told the players, they must attack from the beginning, and you could see after we scored the first goal, Sarawak was mentally down, after the second goal I could see that we had ‘finished off’ Sarawak because they needed four goals and I did not think they were ready for that,” he told reporters after the match at the State Stadium on Tuesday.
The Croatian coach was also pleased with the performance shown by the striker, Ahmad Fakri Shaarani, whom he said was really impressive, and the right choice fielded after foreign player, Dickson Nwakaemi had a muscle problem.
Meanwhile, Junior Eldstal made his debut for Sarawak in the match on Tuesday as a last minute substitution.
Born to a Sabahan mother and Swedish father, Eldstal or his Malaysian name Putera Nadher Amarhan holds a Malaysian passport and is eligible to play for Sarawak as a local player.
Speaking to reporters, Eldstal, who was previously playing in the Vauxhall Football League in England, said he was still trying to adjust to the environment around and was pleased with the oppurtunity given to play for Sarawak.
Apart from Cup defending champions Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and Johor Darul Takzim also made it to the final four after beating their respective opponents.
Kelantan will face Terengganu while star-studded Johor DT take on Paha ng, to be held over two legs on May 25 and 28 respectively. — Bernama