Thursday, April 1, 2010

Nor Saiful: National players jaded

FORMER national skipper Nor Saiful Zaini, who is coaching Kuala Lumpur in the Razak Cup, feels the standard of national players in the tournament is cause for worry.
Nor Saiful has six national players under his charge, and he feels they have not been performing up to par.
“National players, in my days, did not need to be instructed by a coach in the Razak Cup as they have played at the highest level including the Olympics and the World Cup.
“But today, I feel this tournament has reached a new low because even the national players in all the teams needed to be prodded and told what to do,” said Nor Saiful.
KL and Perak have qualified for the Division One final on Sunday, with one pool match against each other to complete today.
“I personally feel national players have not shown their true potential in this tournament yet, and there might be a few factors contributing to this.
“First of all, they just finished playing in the Malaysian Hockey League (MHL) and look like they needed a break, but were forced to play for their states in the Razak Cup.
“And then, I also feel that their heart is not in this tournament, and they would be rather be on a holiday after a tough MHL and then national training sessions,” said Nor Saiful.
On his last pool match against Perak: “I will not be pushing my players as they might pick up injuries or cards and make it more difficult for KL to lift the title.
“But then again, I would not want then to lose badly, as I want to keep their spirits high. Rightly said, this last en counter would be a warm-up for my charges before we attempt our 20th title charge,” said or Saiful.
RESULTS: GROUP A : Kedah 0 Sabah 2, Kelantan 3 Police 3; GROUP B: Perlis 2 Terengganu 2, Pahang 1 Selangor 1.
TODAY: Division One: Armed Forces v Negri (3pm), Perak v Kuala Lumpur (5pm), Penang v Malacca (7pm).
Division Two: Brunei v Terengganu (3pm), Pahang v Perlis (5pm).
All matches at Pitch I and II of the Kuantan Stadium.


DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A Pt
PERAK 5 5 0 0 12 2 15
K LUMPUR 5 4 1 0 16 3 13
JOHOR 6 3 1 2 11 10 10
PENANG 5 2 0 3 10 14 6
NEGRI 5 1 1 3 6 9 4
MALACCA 5 1 1 3 2 7 4
FORCES 5 0 0 5 5 17 0


DIVISION TWO
GROUP A

P W D L F A Pt
SINGAPORE 4 4 0 0 19 3 12
POLICE 4 2 1 1 10 9 7
KELANTAN 4 2 1 1 10 11 7
SABAH 4 1 0 3 5 14 3
KEDAH 4 0 0 4 1 10 0

GROUP B

P W D L F A Pt
PAHANG 3 2 1 0 15 4 7
SELANGOR 4 2 1 1 13 8 7
TERENGGANU 3 1 1 1 11 9 4
PERLIS 3 1 1 1 7 5 4
BRUNEI 3 0 0 3 0 20 0

Its KL-Perak final

By T.N.Alagesh

FAVOURITES Kuala Lumpur will square off against a high riding Perak side in the final for the Razak Cup Division One title on Sunday.
Despite, having one more match to play against each other to complete their Division One fixtures tommorow(Friday), both teams booked their slots yesterday after brushing aside their respective opponents.
Perak, unbeaten after five matches in the tournament yesterday edged Penang 1-0 with their solitary goal coming from a field goal effort through Noor Khairul Azrain in the 35th minute.
Perak coach Manjit Singh Grewal was happy with their performance saying his players had put on a strong and impressive show despite being a little worn out after their tough match against Armed Forces on Tuesday night.
"The team had less than 24 hours of rest before going down to the pitch at 4pm yesterday to take on Penang, and the blazing sunlight during the match had also made the players get tired easily," he said.
Manjit said although the team had secured their place in the final on Sunday, he will instruct his players to go all out to extend their winning streak to six matches when they wrap up their Division One fixtures against KUala Lumpur on Friday.
In the second match yesterday, 18-times champions Kuala Lumpur thumped Armed Forces 5-0 to finish second with their penalty corner specialist Mohd Amin Rahim was the toast of the team when he earned himself a hatrick.
The national player opened the scoring for Kuala Lumpur in the 23rd minute before sounding the board again via another penalty corner a minute before half time.
Amin, who were among the six national players in the Kuala Lumpur side secured his hatrick in the 38th minute from a well-executed penalty corner.
Tajul Roslie Mohamed(57th) and Harvinder Singh(66th) scored one goal a piece to kill off their opponents.
Despite the convincing win along with a place in the final, Kuala Lumpur coach, Nor Saiful Zaini was far from pleased with his players performance against Armed Forces, who are rooted to the bottom of the Division One table.
"The forwards should have seized the chances during the match and convert them into goals, instead they failed to add to the goal tally.
"I will work more on the attacking players so that they will be more sharper in their next match On friday, and perform better when they take on Kuala Lumpur on Sunday," he said.
RESULTS -- Division One: Perak 1 Penang 0: Kuala Lumpur 5 Armed Forces 0: Negri x Johor x.
Division Two: GROUP A Kelantan 1 Singapore 5: Police 4 Sabah 2,
TODAY : Fixtures : GROUP A : Perlis v Terengganu(3.30pm), Kelantan v Police (5.30pm)
GROUP B : Pahang v Selangor(3.30pm), Kedah v Sabah(5.30pm)
All matches at Pitch I and II of the Kuantan Stadium.

Johor crush Malacca

By T.N.Alagesh

AFTER tasting defeat against Penang on Monday, Johor put up an energetic display to crush Malacca 3-0 in the Division One of the Razak Cup in Kuantan yesterday.
Johor, who emerged champions in 2007 started out in impressive style by taking the lead through a well-worked field goal by Azammi Adabi in the 17th minute, before Hang Edzharsyah Hang Tuah made it 2-0 in the 19th minute.
A well-executed penalty corner by Baljit Singh in the 32nd minute saw Johor increasing the leade to 3-0, and they failed to add to their goal tally after half-time.
Johor coach Gurmit Singh was happy to see his boys putting up an impressive show yesterday especially after their shocking 4-2 defeat against Penang on Monday.
"The boys played according to the game plan and I am glad that we managed to secure three vital points against an unpredictable Malacca side.
"I have reminded my players not to underestimate their opponents as all the teams playing here have an equal chance to impress and also cause upsets," he said.
He said three vital points against Negeri Sembilan today will ensure they stay in the hunt for a third place play-off.
In an earlier match, former national skipper, S.Kuhan sounded the board twice to help Negeri Sembilan beat Penang 3-2.
The former penalty corner specialist, gave Negeri Sembilan the lead in the 23rd minute before converting another penalty corner a minute before the breather. G.Kavin kartik scored the third goal from a penalty corner in the 64th minute.
Penang replied through Jamil Saidin in the 28th and captain, M.Jivan in the 53rd minute through penalty corners.
Despite the defeat, Penang coach Bob Rajendran felt that his players had put a strong show and were unlucky not to walk away as winners.
"The scoreline does not matter. It was important that I get to look at the players performance especially the 15 players who will be featuring at the Sukma in Malacca in June.


RESULTS -- Division One: Penang 2 Negri 3, Johor 3 Malacca 0, Perak Armed Forces.

Division Two: GROUP B Perlis 4 Brunei 0 , Terengganu 6 Selangor 2 .


TODAY: Division One: Perak v Penang (4pm), Kuala Lumpur v Armed Forces (6pm), Johor v Negeri Sembilan (8pm); Division Two: Kelantan v Singapore (3.30pm), Police v Sabah (5.30pm).
All matches at Pitch I and II of the Kuantan Stadium.


DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A Pt
K LUMPUR 4 3 1 0 11 3 10
PERAK 3 3 0 0 7 1 9
PENANG 3 2 0 1 8 10 6
MALACCA 4 1 1 2 2 4 4
JOHOR 4 1 1 2 6 9 4
NEGRI 3 0 1 2 2 5 1
FORCES 3 0 0 3 4 8 0


DIVISION TWO
GROUP A
P W D L F A Pt
SINGAPORE 3 3 0 0 14 2 9
KELANTAN 2 2 0 0 6 3 6
POLICE 2 1 0 1 3 4 3
SABAH 2 0 0 2 1 10 0
KEDAH 3 0 0 3 1 8 0

GROUP B

P W D L F A Pt
PAHANG 2 2 0 0 14 3 6
SELANGOR 3 2 0 1 12 7 6
TERENGGANU 2 1 0 1 9 7 3
PERLIS 2 1 0 1 5 3 3
BRUNEI 3 0 0 3 0 20 0