Kedah rue loss of Khairil and Badrul to international duty
Malaysia Cup defending champions Kedah may end up as the biggest losers in the supply of key players for national duty.
The Canaries are already struggling to cope with the hectic schedule. They came into the Malaysia Cup competition from a successful defence of the FA Cup after retaining the Super League title.And they are on course in their bid to win the treble for the second consecutive season. Kedah are now in fourth spot of Group B – two points adrift joint leaders Police and Johor FC.
But they will face Kuala Lumpur at the KLFA Stadium tonight without the services of Khairil Muhymeen and Badrul Bakhtiar. The duo left for China yesterday with the national Under-23 team for a friendly match against the Chinese Olympic side tomorrow.
Coach Mohd Azraai Khor said that the two players were vital cogs in defence and their absence would be be sorely felt.
“We cannot change the situation and it's better for us to tackle the problem objectively, just as we did when our foreigners were away on national duty (Kedah retained the FA Cup in the absence of Marlon James and Bernard Huggings, who were with the St Vincent and Grenadines team for their World Cup qualifiers),” he said.
“We need to beat KL to stay in the race for a place in the quarter-finals. We hope the reserves will rise to the occasion.”
Shafizan Hashim (kedah) set for chelsea match
Kedah are also set to lose another two players from July 17 with goalkeeper Helmi Eliza and leftback Shafizan Hashim joining national training. The senior national side have a friendly international against India on July 24 and another match against English Premier League giants Chelsea on July 29.Kedah’s four players in the national team will only be available for their last group match against Johor FC on Aug 2.
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