Malaysia Cougars Win Supermokh Cup

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 19 (Bernama) -- Malaysia Cougars emerged champions of the Supermokh Cup for Under-14 squads after defeating Sporting CP of Portugal 1-0 in the final at Padang D, National Sports Council Complex, Bukit Jalil here Sunday. The squad coached by former Malaysian football great Lim Teong Kim went after the Portuguese from the starting whistle but the game settled down to balanced play with both sides having chances. However, the solitary goal by Luqman Hakim Shamsuddin in the second half was good enough for a Malaysian victory. "Although they came at us, the boys were in their element. Our goalkeeper Sikh Izhan Nazrel was in a class of his own," said Lim afterwards. Famous clubs like Paris St Germain from France, Manchester City and Sao Paulo of Brazil took part in the tournament. Youths and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin and NSC director-general witnessed the match. Meanwhile, Lim said the National Football Development Programme for Malaysia to qualify for the Under-17 World Cup would get underway next September. "Three more foreign coaches have been hired to prepare the squad namely Saad Ecallele, former coach of Paris St Germain's (PSG) junior squad, Frank Plain, former performance coach of PSG and Abdi Hassan, former coach of FC Twenty's junior squad," he said. The National side will be competing in the AFC Under-16 tournament next September to try to get an automatic slot in the World Cup. An allocation of US$4.46 million (RM20 million) has been set aside for the programme, with US$1.67 million (RM7.5 million) contributed by non-governmental organisations and sponsors. -- BERNAMA