PETALING JAYA: Kuala Muda Naza’s gamble with a team of national discards and veterans has paid off handsomely with the Premier League title.
It is a proven formula for head coach K. Devan. He applied it when he led his former team, Negri Sembilan Naza, to the Super League crown in 2006. Negri also finished as the Malaysia Cup runners-up and made it to the semi-finals of the FA Cup.
But the Deer surprisingly dropped Devan, who won the best coach’s award for his efforts. And it was no surprise when Devan brought along his old faithful charges to Gurun to carry the challenge for Kuala Muda this season.
Seasoned campaigners, among them skipper Mohd Annuar Jusoh, B. Rajanikandh, Azizon Kadir, Manzoor Azwira, Liew Kit Kong, Rudie Ramli and P. Sivanantham, formed the core of the Kedah club side.
The 35-year-old Annuar is one of the longest-serving players in the M-League. He has been in the business since 1992 and said that he would keep on going as long as he could.
We’re the champions: Kuala Muda Naza’s players and officials posing with the Premier League trophy after beating KL Plus 3-2 in their final league match on Saturday. – AZMAN GHANI / The Star
“It all boils down to self-discipline and what you want to do with your life. I want to continue to play football. I have helped a team win the Premier League title and gain promotion to the Super League and it proves that age is no barrier if you put your heart and soul to the tasks,” said Annuar.
Devan said that there was no substitute for experience.
“There were basically two strong elements that resulted in the team achieving success this season,” he said.
“One was the strong support of the management (Naza Group) and the other was the strong commitment of the players throughout the season.”
But the team had to put the celebrations of their success on hold following the demise of the founder and chairman of the Naza Group, Tan Sri S.M. Nasimuddin S.M. Amin.
Devan added that many teams in the M-League opted for new blood, leaving the veterans with little option but to move to the second-tier competition.
But Devan has made the right selection of players, including a few national discards, who were heavily criticised after the national team’s disastrous outing in the Asian Cup Finals, which Malaysia hosted last year.
“It is a remarkable achievement for the club to move to the top flight after just four seasons in the M-League (Kuala Muda finished second from bottom in the 11-team Premier League last year),” said Devan.
He added that some of the teams wanted to sign their players, including the veterans, on loan for the Malaysia Cup competition scheduled to kick off next month.
The 16-team Malaysia Cup competition is for the 14 state teams, Police and the Armed Forces.
Kuala Muda also have some outstanding youngsters in Faderin Kadir, who was named man-of-the-match after they edged arch-rivals KL Plus FC 3-2 in their final match of the season at the KL Football Stadium in Cheras on Saturday.
The team also had three influential foreigners – Nigerian striker Nkoju Emeka and Brazilians Jose Antonio Vega (midfielder) and Fernando Rebeiro (defender).
Kuala Muda completed the Premier League on 61 points – four more than KL Plus, who will also play in the Super League next season. Kelantan finished third on 53 points.
The FA of Malaysia (FAM) have not made a decision on teams to be relegated from the Premier League. Initially, the bottom two teams will go down. The two teams who finished at the bottom this season are Forces (14 points) and K. Lumpur (16).
Article Source:
http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2008/5/5/sports/21150973&sec=sports
