They meet again, but this time both Sime Darby FC and Sarawak FA are stronger than ever, and are both wanting to progress into the semi-finals of the Malaysia Cup.
On paper, it would be difficult to separate both sides. Being from the same league, Sarawak has the upper advantage statistically due to the fact they are the champions of the Premier League, with Sime Darby playing bridesmaid.
But football is not known for being predictable with both sides having equal chance of winning the first leg.
Sime Darby relies heavily on two players, namely Karlo Primorac and Fazrul Hadi, with the flankers supplying byline crosses with hope Karlo or Fazrul catches them for the goal. The team coached by Ismail Zakaria also likes supplying high balls into their opponents goal area, with hope Karlo uses his arial ability to finish them off.
Despite that, Simde Darby loves mixing passes with their overlapping fullbacks also pushing in early crosses when able.
Tactically, the team favours a more attacking 3-4-3 formation when playing at home, but statistics however show that the formation has not blended well in the Piala Malaysia campaign with only one win recorded. Their midfield is very attack oriented with one defensive midfielder playing box-to-box football, with the rest pushing forward to attack.
Sarawak on the other hand looks to emply similar tactics they used when trashing Perak FA last weekend. As usual, Bobby Gonzales is expected to spearhead the attack, with Muamer Salibasic lurking outside the goal area as an attacking midfielder.
The flanks may see a shift of personnel with Ashri Chuchu making the starting line-up together with Joseph Kallang Tie, while Guy Bwele and Junior Eldstal is also expected to retain their position as the heart of the engine room.
The back four of Hairol Mokhtar, Ramesh Lai, Mafry Ballang and Ronny Harun is a certain start, with Sani Annuar assured a place as Sarawak’s preferred goalkeeper.
Tactically, Sarawak will look to utilize Junior during set-pieces, although it must be noted that Guy Bwele can score when taking on free kicks. The Crocs will also be eager to move the ball down the flanks as their speedy wingers will have not much problem outrunning defenders and making quality crosses to awaiting Bobby and Muamer.
Despite playing at home, Simde Darby FC may not have that added home crowd advantage because it is highly expected that away team Sarawak fans will flood the stadium to give their beloved team massive support.
That said, we feel that this game will be tough for both, but Sarawak is expected to come away winners.
OUR BIASED PREDICTION: SIME DARBY FC 0-2 SARAWAK FA
The game will be televised live on RTM TV1 at 8:45PM. You can also follow our live play by play tweets at @SarawakCrocs (for first half), and @Sarawak_FC (for second half) of the game.
