The Malaysia Cup will finally begin this weekend with the Round of 16 matches that will be contested as a single match knockout rather than a usual group stage due to the truncated season that is the 2020 season.
As luck would have it when the draw concluded last Sunday, it looked clear that Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) are likely to take up one of the final spots with the other half of the draw sporting the teams that are seen as likely challengers for the trophy.
Among those pretenders are Terengganu FC (TFC) who will face off against Petaling Jaya City FC on Saturday at Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium, looking to reach their second Malaysia Cup final in three years.
Ironically should they oust K. Devan’s side in the upcoming game, their potential opponent in the quarterfinal are Perak who are expected to get past Kelantan United, making it a repeat of the 2018 final where TFC endured a heartbreaking end.
Lee Tuck was part of that TFC side who did the unthinkable in sending JDT out of the competition in the semi-final only to come unstuck in miraculous fashion against Perak despite leading the contest deep into added time in both regulation and extra time.
In fact Lee was among two players sent off in that unforgettable final after receiving his second yellow card midway through the second period and had to watch in agony for the rest of the match, a memory that hasn’t quite gone away for the Englishman.
TFC
“The fairy story didn’t end the way we wanted it to end but the positives out of it was that the experience was like no other. The opportunity to play in front of 80,000 fans in a final is not something many players get to do even at the top level. The way we got to the final, the build-up, the experience - it was fantastic.
“But yes, people make mistakes. In football nobody's perfect. Things happen in football that sometimes you just can’t control. Obviously I’d have liked to change the decision. But now I take it as a motivation because we can’t change what happened. I try to take that experience to motivate me to win a trophy now.
“I feel that there’s something there I need to do for the club, to bring a trophy home to the club. That motivates me now on a daily basis to try to right the wrong. Obviously this year the Malaysia Cup will be a knockout version, something I’ve never been a part of.
“It’s not that many games to get to the final and we’re playing all the games within a month. It’s all about preparing and getting focus for just this one month. The team who is ready and hits the ground running, that’s the team who is going to do well.
“We need to take advantage of that and be in the right mindset. This is not like anything else we’ve done in Malaysia so we’ve got to go out there and perform for just this one month and anything can happen,” Lee told Goal.
TFC finished in 7th spot in the shortened 2020 Super League season in Nafuzi Zain’s first full season as head coach with Lee playing a pivotal role not only as central midfield but also as the captain of the team.
Sports Regime
Just like the other teams in the Malaysia Cup, Lee is acutely aware that reigning champions JDT remains the one to beat and the likelihood that the Southern Tigers will also have half an eye on the resumption of the AFC Champions League does offer challengers like TFC a higher than usual opportunity to wrest the cup away.
But taking nothing for granted, Lee also stressed that such is the strength of JDT’s squad, that even the potential of splitting their team up remains a difficult challenge for other teams and it will come down to who is better prepared in this second mini pre-season of 2020 prior to the start of the competition.
“Obviously JDT are contenders in any competitions they are in. Even if they split the team up, they still got a good team to compete to win the trophy. But it’s a massive advantage for everyone else. There’s a lot of teams struggling now with the lockdown and all the uncertainties.
“We need to take advantage of that and try to focus on what’s important where we need to play four of five matches to get to that final. There’s gonna be a lot of teams that are not prepared, and the ones who are prepared will get that opportunity to win something special,” he added.
