The 2011 season of the Malaysian Hockey League gets underway this Saturday.
And
there could not have been a more explosive start to the MHL, as the Charity
Shield will see the battle between two of the early favourites for honours this
season – KL Hockey Club and Tenaga Nasional.
With
the cream of the crop, in the likes of bulk representation of national players
in both the teams, with TNB and KLHC having nine each, the match this Saturday
at the National Hockey Stadium is set to be a closely contested affair.
For
not only is the bragging rights of capturing the Charity Shield at stake, but
the match also offers the winning team three points, and thus a head start over
the other who will then have to depend other results to be in their favour.
TNB
have the edge in the opening match, simply because they have players who can
turn the match around with their speed and a touch of genius.
In
goal they can depend on S. Kumar, at times virtually unbeatable. And to provide
a strong defence infront of him, there is the likes of Mohd Amin Rahim, Baljit
Singh and Mohd Madzli Ikmar – all of whom played crucial roles in Malaysia
emerging as the bronze medalist at the recent AHF Champions Trophy in Ordos.
In
midfield TNB can rely on last seasons find – Faiz Helmi Jali, while youngsters
Muhammad Azammi Adabi, Mohd Firhan Ashaari, Amir Farid Ahmad Fuzi and Faizal
Saari are quite capable of breaching the tightest of defences on their day.
Then
there are the wily old foxes in the likes of Mahinder Singh and M. Kaliswaran
who can change the course of the match with a decisive pass of killer instinct
in the semi circle.
But
TNB will surely miss the services of hard running Tajol Rosli Mohammad, who has
quit the scene.
In
contrast, while KLHC may not have players that can match the speed of the TNB
youngsters, they have a bunch of players that have tons of experience. And they
are expected to utilize this in their quest to be the first team to win the
double in consecutive years.
In goal
KLHC will rely on Roslan Jamaluddin who seems to get better with age, and
providing cover for him will be S. Shanker, Muhammad Razie Abdul Rahim, Ahmad
Kazamirul Nasruddin and Baljit Singh.
It
is in the midfield that KLHC holds the edge as they have virtually the national
team set up with Nabil Fiqri Mohd Noor, Mohd Shahrun Nabil Abdullah and Mohd
Sukri Mutalib providing the ammunition for the KLHC strike force.
With
Ismail Abu hoping to show the form he displayed at the Razak Cup in July, KLHC
has a benchful of strikers that can deliver goals from every corner of the semi
circle.
The
likes of Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin Ab Jalil, Chua Boon Huat, Azlan Misron, Mohd
Fitri Saari and Kevinder Singh are more then capable of punishing any slack in
defence by the TNB defenders.
All
said and done, the outcome of the match could really hinge on the form of the
penalty corner executioners.
KLHC
have an added option to their battery this season with the inclusion of
Kazamirul, who can find the mark if given the opportunity, while Razie and
Baljit are the normal executioners in the penalty corner department.
And
for TNB, they have Amin and Faisal, both of whom were in their element in Ordos
last week.
What
the coaches/managers say:
R.
Vivekanandan (KLHC Coach)
It is a must win game for both teams. Though
it may be a league, but there is no room for teams to drop points. We really
cannot let them have the edge from the start of the season thus winning is of
utmost importance to us. I will only have my full team together this evening
and in reality the match on Saturday will be the first time the players are
playing together as a team after the last match of the previous season.
George
Koshy (KLHC Manager)
It will be a difficult league as the teams
will be out for our scalp and there is no margin for error as there are only
eight matches to decide the league title. Winning match and playing
consistently will be the key factors in the MHL this season. We lost to them
(0-2) in the opening match last year and cannot allow history to repeat itself.
It will be an interesting season as the players from the national team will not
be able to train with their clubs and this is something that could prove it
difficult to retain both titles as so far as KLHC is concerned.
Lailin
Abu Hassan (TNB Coach)
We aim to make it three consecutive wins in
the Charity Shield as we won the last two editions (2009 v Sapura and 2010 v
KLHC). That will set the benchmark for the team to perform in the remaining
matches. There is no second chance in this season as we only get to play all
the opponents once. With the national players only joining us in training
tomorrow, the idea is to ensure that both set of players , the national and non
nationals can gel fast and deliver the results. Dropping points is not an
option or luxury that both teams can afford, thus we will play to win on
Saturday.
Fixtures
Saturday (September 17, 2011)
Division One
1700H
– Uniten v Ipoh City Hall – Stadium Tun Razak
2000H
– BJSS v UNIMAP – Stadium KPM
Premier League
2000H
– KL Hockey Club v Tenaga Nasional – National Hockey Stadium
Sunday (September 18, 2011)
Division One
1700H
– SSTMI-Thunderbolt v Uniten – Stadium KPM
1700H
– Ipoh City Hall v BJSS – Stadium Sultan Azlan Shah Ipoh
Premier League
1600H
– Armed Forces Airod v Sapura – National Hockey Stadium
1800H
– Uitm v UniKL – National Hockey Stadium
2000H
– Nur Insafi Penang v Yayasan Negri Sembilan – National Hockey Stadium
