INT Global Football

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Selangor FA forward Afiq Azmi is relishing the prospect of donning the Selangor jersey for the upcoming Malaysia Super League season. The tall striker was part of the Kuala Lumpur side that struggled throughout last season, before making the move to Kelantan for the Malaysia Cup.

With the Red Warriors, Afiq impressed with his physical presence upfront, but the 1.85 metre forward chose to join Selangor for the new season and is absolutely satisfied with the decision to do so.

 

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ATM FA forward Hairuddin Omar is absolutely pumped up ahead of the Charity Shield match against Kelantan this Saturday, with revenge in the air.

The Red Warriors defeat ATM in the final of last season's Malaysia Cup, and Hairuddin has not completely forgotten that day.

 

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ESPN Transfer News

Swiss champions Basle have confirmed the signing of Argentinian striker Raul Bobadilla from Young Boys.

 

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ESPN Transfer News

Gremio have signed former Lyon defender Cris on a one-year deal.

 

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“It will be a really tough game, but we will emerge victorious.” That was what came out from Bojan’s lips during the 2013 TRW’s Jersey Launching Ceremony on Thursday.

Kelantan are scheduled to play against ATM, as the runner up of 2012 Malaysia Cup in the Charity Shield clash this Saturday. Both sides look equal on paper but Bojan believes that his side have everything they need to triumph on the day.

“I would rather say that we have 50-50 chance, we lost our strikers, and they lost the twins (Aidil and Zakwan) and Azmi Muslim to Johor.”

“In the eyes of everyone else, we might be the favourites, but ATM have lots of experienced players, so I’m sure it will be tough game from the beginning to the end.”

When quizzed on what strategy he will use to face the Gladiators, Bojan said “Sathia (B. Sathianathan) and I have got similar opinion in playing the game, dominating the midfield area and I think that the team that can control the midfield well will have the advantage to win the match.”

Kelantan ace Khairul Fahmi is set to miss this one as it is colliding with his marriage ceremony day, and Bojan just calmly shrugged off his inavailability. Meanwhile, he also explained his decision of picking Keita Mandjou over Dimitri Petratos for the Super League squad, which was deemed to be shocking by many Red Warriors fans.

“Some people look at his dribbling skills and think that Dimitry is a good player. It's true, he has a great dribbling skills and is lovely to watch. But during the match he doesn’t have much space to dribble.

"When comparing players, I looked in different views; heights, defending and dicipline in the field. So after several match, and few discussions with the coaches we decided that Keita (Mandjou) is the best for the team at the moment.”

“However we still have an opening during April to give Petratos a role if Keita is under-performing,” he added.

 

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Kelantan Football Association (KAFA), with the collaboration with The Red Warriors Sdn Bhd and their new main sponsor Hotlink, held their Jersey and Merchandise Launching Ceremony at the Kelatan Trade Centre, Kota Bharu on Thursday.

The ceremony, which started at 2.30 pm, mainly introduced Kelantan’s new sponsors and the new kit that the squad will use for the upcoming season.

Hotlink will be their main sponsor for 2013, with the value of their sponsorship being the biggest in the history of Kelanan FA.

Alongside them, Kelantan are also being sponsored by AzizanOsman.com, Warriors, Sinar harian, Syarikat Muda Osman (SMO), Mamee, Tresenergy, Desa Murni Batik dan Pure’re Spritz.

While the amount of all the sponsorship were undisclosed, KAFA president Tan Sri Annuar Musa stated that Kelantan will be financially secured for the year.

As for the kit, TSAM also announced that Warriors, which is the company that produces the kit, have made two versions of it; fan's version and the player's version.

The former will be sold at a reasonable price, compared to the latter and the main motive of this move was to combat the sale of fake kits.

Hotlink, as the main sponsor for the Red Warriors, will be looking to enhance their relationship with fans as they announced plans to give away free tickets to their first 500 Hotlink users that reload their prepaid in every TRW home matches.

Mr Mazlan Mokhtar, East Coast regional head of Maxix stated that this partnership is a step to further increase their relationship with customers in this region.

He also stated that this partnership reflects Maxis’ continued commitment in developing and supporting local sports growth.

 

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Tan Sri Annuar Musa has publicly criticised the Johor FA president Tunku Ismail for his involvement in the contractual dispute between KAFA and Norshahrul Idlan Talaha.

The Kelantan FA supremo recently claimed that Norshahrul has not settled the the amount he agreed to buy out his contract with the treble winners.

Tunku Ismail responded harshly by requesting TSAM to stop being dramatic and called him to behave professionally.

However, Tan Sri Annuar Musa slammed him back publicly through his official Facebook page, claiming that he should not even be involved in this contractual dispute to begin with.

 

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The likes of Johor Darul Takzim, Kelantan FA, ATM might all have big name players but Perak head coach Azraai Khor Abdullah beliefs that his squad will be able to challenge the other sides, despite not having any 'star' players.

 

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ESPN Transfer News

Championship news now, as Blackburn Rovers have terminated the contract of defender Myles Anderson by mutual consent.

 

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ATM - Kelantan Preview : Seeking a good start to the season

Last season’s treble winners Kelantan would be looking to pick up from where they left off when they take on the team they defeated in the Malaysia Cup final last year, ATM, in the curtain raiser Charity Shield match tonight.

The Red Warriors will be without their first and second choice goalkeepers; Khairul Fahmi Che Mat and Shahrizan Ismail for the game. Khairul Fahmi is still busy with his wedding programme while Shahrizan is unwell.

For ATM, chief forward Marlon Alex James remains doubtful with a knee injury.

Kelantan, who lost Norshahrul Idlan Talaha and Muhammad Ghaddar in the close season, are likely to give Guinean Keita Mandjou the task of scoring goals today.

On the other hand, James’ injury could see new signing R. Surendren make his debut upfront for the Gladiators.

With so much top class talent in the middle of the park for both sides, the battle there is set to enthrall the fans and eventually decide the winners tonight.

The match will be played at the Shah Alam Stadium and is slated to kick-off at 8.45pm.

PROBABLE LINEUPS

KELANTAN

Norhadi
Daudsu - Obinna - Nanthakumar - Nik Shahrul
Zairo - Badri - Shakir
Indra
Mandjou - Farhan

ATM

Farizal
Reuben - Shukor - Amirizwan - Irwan
Christie - Martelotto - Rezal - Fitri
Surendran - Hairuddin