Top prize: KL players Kenny and Gallifuoco posing with the English FA Cup at the Central iCity in Shah Alam yesterday. — S.S.KANESAN/The Star
PETALING JAYA: Kuala Lumpur’s “old faithfuls’’ – D. Kenny Pallraj and Giancarlo Gallifuoco – have vowed to repay their coach’s continued trust in them by taking the club to greater heights.
Coach Bojan Hodak has retained the two defenders and have added Croatian centreback Matko Zirdum and leftback Nazirul Naim for the new Super League season.
“Defensive pairings are long-term partnerships. The longer they are together, the better they’ll get. It feels good that the coach still has confidence in us,” said Gallifuoco, a former Australian youth player.
Hodak has been on a spending spree and has also strengthened their woeful frontline by bringing in Ivorian Tchetche Kipre, Brazilian Herlison Caion, Filipino winger Patrick Reichelt and Danish-Italian utility player Sebastian Avanzini.
Gallifuoco is optimistic the signings will see the City Boys finish in the top three and make a better attempt in the AFC Cup after having emerged as runners-up following a 0-3 loss in the final to Omani club, Al Seeb last October.
“We have set the bar high after finishing in the top six in the last two seasons. Although we had an amazing run in the AFC Cup, we felt a bit unsatisfied.
“Now that we have a bigger squad, of course we want to push for the AFC Cup again, and finish in the top three in the league,” said the Australian.
“We know it will be tough to win the Super League but we believe we now have the chance to bag the FA Cup and Malaysia Cup.”
Meanwhile, Kenny added that Caion’s arrival will definitely add more firepower.
“We badly need top strikers like Caion who scored 24 goals (for Selangor) last season. His presence will certainly help us get better results compared to the last two seasons.
“We finished sixth then and I know, with the new signings, we will do much better this season.”
Kenny and Gallifuoco were at the Emirates FA Cup trophy tour in Shah Alam yesterday.
After Malaysia, the tour which started in Sydney, Australia on Jan 23, will head to Singapore today and will culminate in Seoul, South Korea on Jan 28 and 29.
Kenny, an ardent Arsenal fan, hoped the Gunners will lift the Cup.
“As an Arsenal fan, I will be rooting for them to win the Cup and also the league title.”
