No pressure on treble-chasing Kelantan

By Gabriel Tan

The Red Warriors, who have already won the Super League and FA Cup this season, face off against ATM on Saturday one win away from becoming only the second team in Malaysian football history to complete the domestic treble.

With observers already playing up the chances of Hodak's charges emulating the dominant Kedah side that completed the clean sweep in both 2007 and 2008, it would perhaps be understandable if the players were feeling the heat ahead of the clash, but their coach insists this is not the case.

"I don't think there's any pressure," he told ESPNSTAR.com in an exclusive interview. "We have already won two trophies this season and this is something extra.

"To the players, it's just one more game - one final - and I don't think they'll be thinking about becoming only the second team to win the treble."

Despite expressing confidence in his side's ability to emerge triumphant, the Croatian did admit that their opponents were more than capable of posing them problems especially with the quality at B. Sathianathan's disposal.

The two sides met twice in the group stage of this season's competition, producing a 1-1 draw at the Majlis Perbandaran Selayang Stadium, before Kelantan eked out a 4-3 victory in the return encounter.

"We are always confident we have what it takes to win," Hodak added. "But we are aware ATM are a good team.

"They have five Malaysia internationals and good foreigners. They definitely have enough experienced and quality players.

Most of the pre-match talk has centred around how the Red Warriors will cope with Armed Forces spearhead Marlon Alex James, who has already scored 32 goals in all competition this year, but the Kelantan tactician believes his side cannot afford to only focus on the Vincentian international.

"Marlon is the obvious threat given he's in good form and scoring goals but there are plenty of other players that will pose a threat," he explained.

"Zaquan [Adha] is a good player while Bruno Martelotto caused us a lot of trouble in our last game in Kota Bharu. Hairuddin Omar is also an experienced player that will always pose a threat."

The Red Warriors themselves will be without two of their key attacking threats in Norfarhan Muhammad and Mohammed Ghaddar, who are both suspended after picking up yellows in the semi-final second leg against Selangor.

Hodak admits both players will be missed and while Norfarhan's replacement is an easy decision given captain Badhri Radzi is ready to be reinstated in the starting XI following an eye infection, filling in for the Lebanon international has posed a bit of a headache.

"One concern for us is we have two important players missing tomorrow [Saturday] - Norfarhan and Ghaddar," he conceded.

"Sometimes when you have one player out you can cope, but missing two obviously makes things difficult. But I believe we can take the game to ATM and hopefully win.

"Norfarhan will be replaced by Piya [Badhri]. As for Ghaddar's replacement, whether we go for someone more defensive or attacking, I think I will decide that only tomorrow [Saturday]."

Kelantan were made to wait 89 years before they won their first-ever Malaysia Cup title back in 2010.