KUALA LUMPUR: The odds heavily favour Johor Darul Ta’zim to win the Malaysia Cup for the first time at the Shah Alam Stadium today even as Kedah have better pedigree in the tournament as five-time champions.
No team from Johor have been successful in the country’s oldest football tournament since the Johor state team lifted the Malaysia Cup for a second time in 1991.
The firepower which Ulisses Morais’ Darul Ta’zim possess is the envy of every team in the country with Mohammed Ghaddar, Gonzalo Cabrera, Gabriel Guerra and Safiq Rahim having scored a combined 64 goals in all competitions this year.
Kedah, however, are unbeaten in their last eight games in the competition, during which they kept four clean sheets.
Morais certainly thinks he has the best squad available to him and believes Darul Ta’zim will add a second trophy to the Super League title they won for a fourth consecutive year.
“The last game of the season is the final and we think we have the best conditions with the best players to get this trophy,” said Morais at the Shah Alam Stadium on Friday.
“We have a lot of confidence in our players, we have worked hard and for now we want to play and we want to win.
“We know Kedah have good points but Kedah also think the same way about JDT having positive and negative points. We have already identified what we can do to improve our game.
“We are prepared for every situation and we will try our best to win the game. On the other side is a good team and we have to work to do the best things and try to win.”
Kedah striker Ken Ilso has recovered from an injury which kept him out of last Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Darul Ta’zim in a Super League match.
Coach Nidzam Adzha Yusof is leaning towards starting with the Dane as he hopes Ilso will be able to trouble a Darul Ta’zim back-line missing centre-back Marcos Antonio Santos.
“JDT are the favourites and they have their own strengths with so many great individual players,” said Nidzam, who led Kedah to the FA Cup glory in May which secured the role of coach full-time after replacing Tan Cheng Hoe.
“There might be an opportunity for us to try to breach the back-line but JDT’s midfield and strikers are very good, as the statistics show.”
The experience gained from winning last year’s Malaysia Cup final against Selangor on penalties and edging this year’s FA Cup of final against Pahang 3-2 should hold Kedah in good stead.
Darul Ta’zim only appearance in the Malaysia Cup final ended in a penalty shootout agony in 2014 and Morais realises the importance of the final to the fans.
“We know tomorrow is going to be a hard game and I hope for good football, atmosphere and support for both teams,” said the Portuguese. “We want to see a good fight from both sides but for now we want to do our job.”