City Boys head coach Bojan, lamented the luck of the draw not being with us, after being paired with Selangor for the Second Round of the FA Cup.
In an audio message to The Voice of The City Boys, Bojan was quietly confident that despite being dealt with a bad hand, his charges would be up for it in the 85th Klang Valley derby, and steer us through to the next round.
“It was not (a) lucky draw for both teams. I think that between (all) the fixtures, this match would be the strongest. I would say maybe only Kedah and Terengganu or Negeri Sembilan (is as difficult). These are the two toughest matches in this round of FA Cup.”
Continuing he said that the City Boys have nothing to fear, and our recent history against our Klang Valley neighbours show that we have plenty to be positive about, though not downplaying the difficulty of the tie.
“Vs Selangor the last two years, we have a good record. We didn’t really lose any official game, but all matches were always tough, most of the matches finished (in a) draw. Last year in the Malaysia Cup we won. So I expect the same, it will be (a) tough match. Our form is improving and I hope that we can surprise them on their field and go to next round.”
The City Boys drew 3-3 in an explosive encounter with Selangor on the opening day of the Super League last March in Cheras, and this knock-out match promises ‘fireworks’ once again.
The second round is due to take place either on Friday or Saturday, May 13 or 14, 2022, at the Petaling Jaya City Council’s (MBPJ) Stadium in Kelana Jaya, a few days after the City Boys welcome Penang at home in the Super League on May 10, 2022.
According to renowned City Boys statistician Devinder Singh, this is the 8th time both teams will be meeting each other in this competition, with the Red & White prevailing in 1993 at the quarter-final stage on our way to the cup (first leg 0-2, second leg 4-2, replay 1-0), again in the quarters of 1998 (first leg 2-0, second leg 2-4, 4-3 on penalties) and at this same last sixteen phase in 2000 (first leg 1-1, second leg 1-0). Selangor were victorious over us en-route to their cup successes of 1991 (semi-final, 4-1 and 4-2) and 2009 (2nd round, 1-0 and 1-1), and also got the better of us in 1995 (group stage 2-1) and 2018 (quarter-final, 3-0 and 0-3, then 8-7 on penalties).
Our capital side were champions of the FA Cup in 1993, 1994 and 1995, and lost in the 1992 final, while Selangor are tied with Kedah DA with the most FA Cups, triumphing in 1991, 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2009, and were runner-up in 1990, 2008 & 2018.
We secured progress in the competition with an 8-0 thrashing of M3 (third division) outfit Langkawi City last month, with goals coming from seven different players, led by Fakrul’s brace, followed by Partiban, Zhafri, Gallifuoco, Hadin, Paulo Josue, Koubemba.
Michael Feichtenbeiner’s Selangor, hammered M3 side Harini, 6-0 in the previous round to advance to the last sixteen.