Piala Malaysia 2012 - Negeri Sembilan vs ATM (Quarterfinal Preview)

It was almost inevitable, wasn't it? With the number of players departing to ATM, it was not a question of if, but when they would be facing Negeri Sembilan. In a week's time, six former Deer - Farizal Harun, Irwan Fadzli Idrus, Aidil Zafuan, Rezal Zambery Yahya, Zaquan Adha and Hairuddin Omar - would come face-to-face with their former teammates. Several Deer fans still have a soft spot for these players due to their services to the team, but come matchday, all sentiments will surely be forgotten

On paper, ATM are the favourites to win the tie, simply because of the sheer number of so-called stars in the team. But football is never won on paper (see Wigan vs Manchester United, season 2011/2012), and certainly not on Malaysian papers, where somehow we are always the underdogs even though we've made it to the final 3 times in a row now. Individuals do not make a team, and I'm fairly certain that collectively as a team, we are better than them

In goal, there will be the battle of the Farizals - Marlias for Negeri Sembilan and Harun for ATM. Both keepers have done well in their stints at NS last season, but judging from the few ATM matches I've seen on telly, it seems our Farizal (Mael) has a slight edge over Farizal Harun (Ijai). Having said that, Ijai has always had quick reflexes, so our strikers may need to find that extra something to beat him. Certainly I'd back Mael to keep out all the threats from ATM as he's been superb this season so far

I would fully expect coach Azraai to deploy Kuna and Shahurain (Kecik) as our main wingers. In the previous match Kuna was played at rightback, which for me restricted his play, as he is well known for the tireless, bombarding runs down the flank. The change was made to accommodate Thana on the left wing, who admittedly was key in our equaliser against Felda. It would be interesting to see who would the coach go with, but I'd start Kecik and Kuna, with Thana being the 'joker' on the bench

As for midfield, I would like to see Idris and Rashid being played there playing the roles of playmaker and enforcer respectively. Idris certainly has the quality to dictate play from the middle of the park, and it would be interesting to see him squaring up against Rezal, his partner-in-crime during their time together. I'm looking at Rashid to be the player who breaks up the opposition attacks in midfield. Sort of what Alif does, minus the yellow cards. If we can control the midfield, we can control the game, hence my rationale for those two mentioned above

Now in attack it's going to be fairly obvious - Owona and Khairul Izuan. These two - if I'm not mistaken - have started in all the matches in the tournament together so far. Owona is going to be a marked man, so Khairul Izuan needs provide an outlet for Owona. He needs to play off Owona, which means whenever Owona receives the ball, he should be ready for Owona to lay the ball off to him. Khairul certainly has pace, and needs to use that advantage to beat the ATM defence

In my eyes, ATM's key players will be Hairuddin, Marlon, Rezal and Aidil (Zaquan too if he plays). These are all quality players, and our team certainly have a huge task at hand to overcome them. However I have complete faith in the likes of Farbak and Rashid to quell these threats. Farbak for me would be key in our defence as he would be the one doing all the tackling, which has certainly saved us in many occasions

And if anything goes wrong, we always have this guy... 

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I was lucky enough to attend the Piala Malaysia roadshow organized by Astro last Saturday. The main reason I was there was to meet the Negeri Sembilan players. I also took part in the fastest shot challenge, which unfortunately I did not win. But yeah the highlight of the day was taking some pictures together with the players

Here are some shots from the day