PETALING JAYA: Kelantan are on a good run in the Malaysia Cup competition and the players have been reminded to keep their feet firmly on the ground in the task to qualify for the quarter-finals.
Against the odds, the Premier League side are now the Group C leaders on 13 points from six matches – ahead of Super League runners-up Negri Sembilan on better goal difference. Terengganu and Selangor have played one match fewer and both are on seven points. The other teams in the group are Sarawak (six) and Malacca (three).
The Kelantan FA vice-president Afandi Hamzah said that they did not want to be tagged as the favourites to advance from the Group of Death.
“We are in a very tough group and we cannot take our place for granted. We began our Malaysia Cup campaign as the underdogs and we prefer to remain that way. The strong support we get at home has been a tremendous boost for the team. Hopefully, we will progress on to bigger goals,” he said.
The last time Kelantan made it to the quarter-finals was in 2001. Since the inaugural tournament in 1921, Kelantan have reached the final twice but were beaten on both occasions – by Singapore in 1955 (1-3) and Perak in 1970 (0-2).
Kelantan will be away to Malacca tonight and will be looking at their foreign players to continue playing influential roles.
Senegalese Mouhamadou Moustapha has pledged to help Kelantan win the Cup for the first time. In the Premier League, the 24-year-old striker scored 27 goals to bag the Golden Boot award. The other two foreigners in the team are Ghanaian striker Bentil Enoct and Czech centreback Jan Necas.
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