KUALA LUMPUR: Former national coach K. Rajagobal has suggested that the Malaysian Football League (MFL) sacrifice the FA Cup competition to ensure that the Malaysia Cup tournament can be held this season.
He fears that the Super League and Premier League will extend beyond their original schedule, which will then affect the Malaysia Cup competition, which is expected to start in early August.
Based on MFL’s original schedule, the Super League and Premier League competitions, which began on Feb 29, are expected to end in mid-July.
“Perhaps MFL can sacrifice the FA Cup as, for me, the Malaysia Cup has more historic value. But I believe MFL and FAM (Football Association of Malaysia) will surely find the best solution.
“The priority now is for all parties to give their cooperation in tackling the spread of Covid-19,” he said when contacted by Bernama today.
The experienced 53-year-old coach felt that should MFL want to keep all the tournaments, then the FA Cup tournament should revert from the home-and-away format to a knock-out system from the quarter-final stage onwards, thus reducing the number of matches.
Meanwhile, a source close to MFL contacted by Bernama confirmed that no decision had been made to cancel any of the tournaments and that any such decision would be made at its board of directors’ meeting soon.
MFL and FAM had earlier postponed all Malaysia League (M-League) matches from March 16 due to the pandemic. – Bernama
