King of Excuses

As long as the power-crazy King Yob is still anywhere near Wisma FAM, Malaysian football will remain where it is - the pits.

Fans Will Be Torn Between Malaysia Cup And CYC Matches Tomorrow

Oversight, ignorance or sheer arrogance... whatever you want to call it, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) remains defiant of the fact that the biggest youth football spectra - the Champions Youth Cup (CYC) - will begin tomorrow.

Despite the fact that Malaysia are hosting and playing the opening match of the CYC tomorrow against Bayern Munich in Kuching, the FAM has decided to go ahead with the Malaysia Cup fixtures scheduled tomorrow.

"We have no choice but to go ahead with the Malaysia Cup matches as any delay will offset our plans to have the final before the fasting month which is expected to begin on Sept 13.

"Furthermore, when the fixtures were set, the CYC dates were not finalised," FAM Competition Chairman Datuk Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar told Bernama when contacted today.

Tomorrow, the first leg of the Malaysia Cup quarter-finals will see three matches, namely Selangor vs Terengganu (Shah Alam Stadium), Negeri Sembilan vs Sabah (Paroi Stadium, Seremban), Perlis vs Perak (Utama Stadium, Kangar).

The Kedah vs Melaka was however postponed to Thursday as both the Darul Aman Stadium and the Hang Jebat Stadium are being used for the CYC. The second leg takes place on Aug 15.

The CYC is an Under-19 tournament that features 14 top clubs in the world together with host Malaysia and the Qatar national team.

The FAM general secretary, Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad when contacted refused to comment on the clash of fixtures and asked this reporter to speak to the Competitions Committee instead.

Last Thursday, Bernama had highlighted the clash of dates to Raja Ahmad and forwarded a Short Message Service (SMS) message to Dr Ibrahim who did not answer a number of calls earlier.

According to Raja Ahmad, a meeting was held subsequently but it was decided that it would be too late to make any changes as the final had been fixed for Sept 8.

The CYC which kicks-off tomorrow ends on Aug 19.
Taken from BERNAMA