LEAGUE CUP: Eyeing Liverpool's scalp

Chan dares to dream of a Cardiff triumph

Cardiff City owners Tan Sri Vincent Tan (left) and Datuk Chan Tien Ghee celebrate after their team won their League Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace on Tuesday. AFP pic

Twice in the last four years Cardiff City went to Wembley and had their hearts broken but now that they are back at the home of English football, they carry the dreams of not just the Welsh city but Malaysia as well.  

Cardiff will be hoping to be third-time lucky after setting up a Feb 26 Wembley date with English giants Liverpool when they reached the League Cup final following a penalty shoot-out win over fellow Championship side Crystal Palace on Tuesday and nobody is more ecstatic than chairman Datuk Chan Tien Ghee.

Chan even admitted to having heart palpitations during the semi-final second leg as the Bluebirds erased a 1-0 first-leg deficit to stretch the tie to extra-time and eventually penalties. "During the penalties, I nearly had a heart-attack. It was that nerve-wrecking. But I am ecstatic for the players and fans. That performance showed what the club represents, we fought all through the game to the very end," said Chan in a telephone interview with Timesport from Cardiff.

Cardiff's third trip to Wembley since 2008 follows a 1-0 defeat to Portsmouth in the FA Cup final that year and another disappointment in 2010 when they lost 3-2 to Blackpool in the promotion playoff final. Liverpool may have more history and success than Portsmouth and Blackpool, and appear intimidating enough, but the romantics will be hoping for a Welsh win, not that Chan was getting ahead of himself.

  "It's a final, and in football anything can happen. We're at the door, the door is open and we have to do our best. "We'll savour the run to the final for a moment. We take each match as it comes and we will go to Wembley humbly and fight to the final whistle. "Who knows, we might just surprise Kenny Dalglish," said Chan, who along with Tan Sri Vincent Tan, took over Cardiff in May 2010.

Cardiff, as Chan hopes, will receive the support of most Malaysian fans, with the possible exception of those following the Reds, as they seek their first major title since winning the FA Cup in 1927. Yet, it is hard not to follow the fortunes of a club who proudly emblazon "Malaysia" on the front of their jerseys, unlike Tan Sri Tony Fernandes' Queens Park Rangers, who have airlines Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia decorating their shirts. "We put up our own money to have Malaysia on the front of the jersey, its not an airline on the front. Millions of people are going to see that and we hope Malaysians will be behind us during the final. "I know for a fact there were a lot of Malaysians jumping for joy when we made the final," added Chan.

  While Cardiff dream of Cup glory, they are also not forgetting their main task of winning promotion to the Premier League. Malky Mackay has guided Cardiff to third place, just one point behind Southampton, who they face on Tuesday at the start of a run of crucial league games which also see them face Blackpool, Leicester City, Peterborough and Ipswich Town before their Wembley trip. "We missed out last season (Cardiff were defeated in the playoff semi-finals) and we want to get into the Premier League. It's a long-road ahead and we'll take it step by step.

"Malky is a great manager and we have a 12th man in the form of the Cardiff fans. I leave it to my manager to chart the way forward and it's been known that we are on the look out for players. "Perhaps over the next few days we could get a few players in but there's still the loan window for us to do something," said Chan.

-NST Online.