Sumber: NST
THE pieces of the puzzle are slowly falling into place for former Malaysia Cup kingpins Kuala Lumpur as the city side bid to reverse a decline which resulted in successive relegation the past two seasons.
KL will play in the third-tier FAM League for the first time in their 35-year history but the wheels have been turning as soon as relegation from the Premier League was confirmed in July.
Tang Siew Seng, assistant to Razip Ismail from 2009 to 2012 and a three-time Malaysia Cup winner with KL in 1987 to 1989, including one season as captain, has been confirmed as KL's coach for next season.
KL have been performing well with a team of amateurs sprinkled with a few professionals in the ongoing Sultans' Gold Cup and on Saturday, held Selangor 1-1 in the quarter-final first leg in Selayang.
Only four players were retained from the disastrous 2013 squad while midfielder S. Sumindran is set to join from Pos Malaysia with KL on the look out for several more players to fill up their quota of 10 professionals and 15 amateurs.
Siew Seng already has an idea of what his team should look like though not all the players on the Gold Cup roster will be retained.
"There are some who have done well but there are others who lack fitness and technique so we will not be bringing them in," he said.
"We need to find a few more players and we are looking at taking players on loan from several KL clubs playing in the M-League," he added, with Sime Darby and Public Service Commission ready to loan KL a few players.
Only defenders Ahmad Jihad Ismail and Syazwan Rani and midfielders Syafiq Johari and J. Mughilan Kartik have been retained from last season while defender Ahmad Dashila Tajudin and striker Badrul Hisyam Azmi were among the senior KL players to have been let go.
Siew Seng, who took over from Slovak Stanislav Leiskovsky, said he offered the four a second chance and challenged them to regain KL's honour after being responsible for their relegation.
"I told them this is the time to prove yourselves because this is your chance to bring KL back up after you took them down," Siew Seng said.
KL have also been looking at players from the city's Premier Division such as midfielder Lukhman Mohd Noor from RHB Bank, who was part of the Federal Territories Malaysia Games squad which finished fourth in 2010, and City Hall centre-back Hasnol Hamzah, who played for KL in 2008.
Under-19 striker Amin Asraf Yaakob is among the youngsters to be given a chance to shine as he seeks to follow in the footsteps of Ahmad Hazwan Bakri and Syafwan Syahlan, who were both absorbed into the FA of Malaysia's Young Tigers in the last two years. By Devinder Singh
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