Match Preview Super League Vs Negeri Sembilan FC
The City Boys are on the up again. The return of Romel, Zhafri, and Koubemba, has injected loads of confidence into the side. The defence that leaked 12 goals against top-level opposition in all competitions (9 in the league) has found renewed faith. Quoting Otis Reading’s song I’m A Changed Man, this is a changed Kuala Lumpur City team! We have finally got ourselves together, have we not, with two identical scoreline back to back wins against Melaka Utd and Sabah, and most importantly two clean sheets in a row. We make a short visit to Negeri Sembilan on Sunday, only our second away fixture in the league, after playing three straight homers, with a spring in our step, aiming to get into the Hari Raya Aidilfitri mood and vanquish our sordid record in Paroi.
2021 Premier League champions Negeri Sembilan are flying high at the moment. Currently sitting in the fourth position, with eight points from 4 matches, they together with Johor DT remain the only unbeaten teams in the league thus far. That fact alone says a lot about the Jang’s, picking up wins at Sabah and home last week vs Petaling Jaya C, holding Selangor to a draw in Paroi, and registered a valuable point in Penang. It has been going good as they say, perhaps much better than they expected. K. Devan was brought back as head coach before the 2021 season, his third stint with his home state team who were stuck in the second division since going down from the Super League in 2018. He immediately repaid the faith of the Yellow Black Red and together with Sarawak United, they completely dominated the competition, eventually eclipsing the Bornean side by winning the Premier League. A serial winner he was in the noughties, the 61-year-old will be looking to replicate the happy days of Negeri Sembilan football like when it was during his first term in charge from 2004 to 2006, where he led the Jangs to promotion to the Super League at his second try in 2005, then emerged as Super League champions in 2006, their first and only ever conquest of all. They also finished runner-up in the Malaysia Cup that year losing 2-1 to Perlis, and were semi-finalists in the FA Cup. His second stint back home in 2015 was not fruitful but he has shown that he has not lost his touch with the third bite of the cherry last season. For 2022, Negeri Sembilan retained at least 10 players from the promotion campaign, amongst them the former national mercurial veteran striker 34-year-old Zaquan Adha, whose goal ratio is in the colours of the Jangs is an impressive one for every two matches or so. They completely overhauled their foreign legion with the goal-scoring midfielder and Clairefontaine graduate Frenchman Herald Goulon joining in from Pahang, together with Ghanaian heritage Tajiskistani David Mawutor and Filipino national Iranian Omid Nazari, who was thought to have spent time in Melaka Utd in the past. Forwards Kossi Evanonye from Liberia and another former Elephant, Brazilian Matheus Alves joins, bringing with him an experience of scoring 18 goals in 21 matches in the Malaysian scene during his time with the East Coast outfit in 2017. On the local front, their top signings are goalkeeper Syihan Azmi from PJC, New Zealander heritage left-back Khair Jones from Sarawak U and midfielder K. Sarkunan from Selangor. There are always penalties in matches involving the Jang’s this season. They have gained and converted one each in the fixtures against Selangor, Penang and Petaling Jaya C, and conceded twice (1 each) to Sabah (saved by Syihan) and Selangor. Beginning the season with a 1-0 win in Sabah, Khair scoring off a freekick situation that caused chaos in the East Malaysian’s backline and hints of poor goalkeeping by Khairul Fahmi, they then showed plenty of character after battling back from two goals down to hold 10-man Selangor, with Evanonye causing plenty of problems, winning the penalty that Goulon converted and grabbing the leveller with 14 minutes to spare. The result up north against the Panthers was purely due to the resilience of Syihan who repelled almost everything the Penangites threw at him, except for the penalty, and when he was beaten, the northerners were having an off day of their own. It was another show of second-half power, a period where most of their goals come from, during the victory against the Phoenix that Devan immensely praised, when late strikes by Sean Selvaraj and Alves, put the matter beyond doubt.
Only for the second time this season, head coach Bojan has almost all his personnel available for this trip to Negeri Sembilan. Certainly the Sampai Mati Kuala Lumpur faithful will be expecting us to make it three victory’s on the trot and avenge the loss during the Federal Territories Minister’s Cup pre-season friendly. After the results against Melaka Utd and Sabah, there is plenty for our team and followers to be positive about. Believe has returned to the squad and expectations are soaring once again. We seek to come away from Paroi with a positive result, if not an outright win, but another battle royale is on the cards once again.
Sunday’s clash will be the 22nd time both teams meet each other since the beginning of the Super League & Premier League divisions in 2004, and the overall head to head record in this period is honours even, with 6 wins each and 9 draws. Due to contrasting fortunes in the Malaysian League, both sides did not meet each other in eight of the 18 seasons passed, from 2006 to 2009, 2013-2014, 2019 & 2021 year. Paroi is not a happy ground for the Red & White, especially from 2015. In the four visits since 2015, we only avoided defeat in 2016, holding them to a 1-1 draw, Zhafri’s 87′ minute equaliser preventing us from heading to a customary defeat thereafter Norhafizzuan Jailani opened the scoring in the first half. Also from that point on, it was usually the case if they win at their home, while we reciprocated the gesture at our home, the exception being in 2016 as stated above. The last time we returned from Paroi with maximum points was 11 years ago in the Super League, Badrul Hisyam’s solitary goal giving us the win, but in that same season in Paroi, we also triumphed over them in the penalty shoot-out after a scoreless draw in the second round of the FA Cup. The shortened M-League season of 2020 due to the Movement Control Order (MCO) and various health and safety protocols caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, only saw a single encounter that year in the Premier League which was our final rendezvous with the southerners in actual competition, the City Boys trouncing 10-man Negeri Sembilan 3-1 in Cheras. Indra Putra’s strike sandwiched between Francis Kone’s goals with Igor Luiz pulling one back for the visitors.
Izreen who is recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury in his knee is still our only player in the treatment room.
The Super League Match Day 6 fixture between Negeri Sembilan and Kuala Lumpur City is on Sunday, April 24, 2022, at 10 pm (2200hrs), at the Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.
Tickets for the Super League match against Negeri Sembilan are available at the following link, https://www.tickethotline.com.my/
For Season Ticket Holders (B2 City Boys), enjoy direct access for purchase through the Club without the hassle and limitations of the online system (Contact Shamim for details).