Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Kelantan coach Bojan Hodak has insisted that a victory against Ayeyawady United in Yangon on Wednesday is by no means imperative to his team’s AFC Cup hopes despite their failure to win their opening Group G match last week.
The Malaysian treble winners reached the quarter-finals on their AFC Cup debut last year but they made a disappointing start to their 2013 campaign when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Maldives side Maziya in Kota Bharu last week.
It is a similar scenario to the one that Kelantan found themselves in last year when they travelled to meet Ayeyawady after were held to a goalless draw by Navibank Saigon in their opening game. They lost 3-1 on that occasion but they still managed to top the group before they defeated Malaysian rivals Terengganu in the Round of 16.
With the memories of that campaign still fresh, Hodak is confident that his side can again rise to the occasion even if they fail to win the rematch against the Myanmar Cup holders at the Youth Training Centre.
“It is still early in the tournament and there is no pressure on us now,” said the Croatian, whose side have gone winless in their last four games in the Malaysian Super League and AFC Cup.
If you remember, we were in an identical situation last year when we drew our first game at home. Then we travelled to Myanmar and we lost to Ayeyawady United but after that we won five games in a row and we went all the way to the quarter-finals.”
Despite Ayeyawady’s comprehensive victory last year, Hodak is anticipating a very different approach by the Myanmar club to the match on Wednesday.
“The Ayeyawady United team of last year and this year are very different because they have changed their coach and all of their foreign players,” he said. “They were also more physical and aggressive last year but now they are trying to play to the feet.
“The match will also be kicking off at a later time this year which is good because playing under the hot afternoon sun last year was a big problem for us.”
Marjan Sekulovski has replaced Jozek Herel as Ayeyawady’s head coach and the Macedonian is hopeful that his side can bounce back from their opening 2-1 loss to V.League champions SHB Da Nang a fortnight ago.
"I think that it is going to be a good match,” said Sekulovski.
“Kelantan are the league champions of Malaysia and they are a big team. Nevertheless, we need to get three points on our home ground and we will be trying our utmost to get the win."
Wednesday’s other Group G game will be played in Male, where Maldives FA Cup holders Maziya will play their first-ever home match in the AFC Cup against group leaders Da Nang.
Having seen his side pick up an unlikely point at Kelantan on their debut, Maziya coach Ismail Mahfooz is hoping for another good result in front of the home fans at the National Stadium.
“We are happy that we managed to get a point on our debut of AFC Cup,” said Mahfooz. “In the first match the players played really well and we will work ever harder to win the match tomorrow as we hope that we can achieve a good result at home.
“I believe Da Nang are one of the best teams in this group and we have to be mentally strong when playing against them. We have to concentrate very hard and understand how they are playing against us.
“Hopefully, we will have a big crowd in the stadium because we can understand the difficulties that our opponents will have when playing in front of a lot of spectators.”
Da Nang have been in excellent form of late in the V.League and AFC Cup but their coach, Vietnamese football legend Le Huynh Duc, is not about the take Maziya lightly.
“We do not know much about Maziya but we know that they have nine players from the national team and they played very well in their away match against Kelantan and managed to get a point,” said Duc.
“I have played here twice so Maldives is not a new place for me and I know the quality of Maldivian players and they are very good.
“We are happy that we are winning the games despite our hectic schedule which has resulted in some fatigue for our players. But still we will try our level best to get at least a point against Maziya.”