Selangor FC will continue their 2021 Malaysia Cup campaign tonight against a relative newcomer to the Malaysian league, Kuching City FC. 

When the Premier League side arrives at the MBPJ Stadium this weekend, it will be only their fourth-ever Malaysia Cup encounter, and it will also be the first-ever encounter between the two sides, due to the fact that Kuching only entered the Malaysian pyramid in 2017 and was soon promoted to the second tier for the 2020 season.

But despite their status as a second-tier side and their recent difficulties with regard to organizing friendly matches, the East Malaysian team must never be regarded as mere minnows. Under head coach Irfan Bakti Abu Salim, they have built a reputation as the Group B dark horse by holding Perak FC to a 2-2 draw in their most recent match.

Our boys have another reason to be extra careful in their first-ever encounter against the Cats, and this is due to an obscure if slightly-unfortunate statistical record.

Over the last five years or so, Selangor's first respective competitive encounter against newly-established clubs and teams have tended to end in draws. This is what happened in their first-ever matches against PKNP FC, Petaling Jaya City, and UiTM FC, respectively, which all ended deadlocked.

Hence it is important that our boys overturn this tendency this Saturday, on top of the need to bag their second group win and to set the tone for the series of four matches. 

This is what our boss Karsten Neitzel wants to see in the encounter:

"My team needs to play seriously against Kuching City and to avoid underestimating them. But we can afford to be confident because we played well in our latest two friendlies, and those performances need to be emulated in our coming competitive encounters.

"Tonight, my players need to be committed when going for the ball and not be afraid of making mistakes when in possession of it."

Thankfully, there are plenty of reasons for Selangor FC to be optimistic when cup action returns this weekend; among them the return of our loyal supporters to our home ground, as well as the return to action of our previously injured players.

While Tim Heubach, Brendan Gan, and Halim Saari remain out of the team and Syahmi Safari will most likely not be dropped for the weekend, fans will be happy with the return of striker Shahrel Fikri, center maestro Oliver Buff and defenders Ashmawi Yakin and Sharul Nazeem to the team.

However, the team was forced to forget about the availability of R. Dinesh who had just suffered an ACL during a friendly match. At the same time, the Red Giants will be playing without Mukhairi Ajmal, Harith Haiqal, Zikri Khalili, and Sikh Izhan who are currently playing with Malaysia B-23 in Mongolia.

Selangor FC bids hello to Kuching this weekend and hopes for many more exciting encounters in the future, but it is imperative that the three points belong to us. After all, the match after the one on Saturday will be its reverse fixture, with the Sarawakian side hosting the 33-time champions in matchday four of the group stage.

By Zulhilmi Zainal