Preview: ATM v Terengganu

ATM and Terengganu bring their MPFL 2026 regular seasons to a close in Selangor on Sunday, the final day of the group phase before the play-offs begin, and the two sides go into it in very different frames of mind.

Izmir Firdaus Bin Zainal Ariff's ATM arrive with the sixth-place play-off spot all but secured, after Saturday's dramatic 5-4 win over USM in which captain Alif Iqwan Hussin scored a rapid second-half hat-trick, three goals inside four minutes turning a 2-2 game on its head. That result took ATM to 15 points, a total USM cannot now overhaul with only one match of their own remaining, against PFA Odin Sarawak, and leaves ATM needing little more than to see out the campaign in one piece before turning their attention to the play-offs.

Terengganu, by contrast, arrive with something concrete still to play for. Mohd Shafily Bin Jusoh's side were beaten 5-0 by JDT on Saturday, a chastening finish to a circuit that had begun with back-to-back wins over PFA Odin Sarawak and KL City, and sit fifth on 20 points from 15 matches, three adrift of fourth-placed KL City, who face champions elect Selangor on the same afternoon. Selangor's own weekend has been another procession, a 12-1 win over PFA Odin Sarawak on Saturday taking them to 45 points and a 15th straight win without defeat, which leaves little reason to expect KL City an easy afternoon. A win here for Terengganu, allied to a slip-up from KL City, would be enough to lift them into fourth spot and a more favourable path through the play-offs, though the equation is very much out of their own hands.

The sides have already met once this season, Terengganu winning 5-3 in the early rounds. ATM will look to the same attacking threat that undid USM at the weekend, with Alif Iqwan in irresistible form and Mohamad Danial Abdul Dain and Faizulnizam Aziz both among the goals in Saturday's win, while Terengganu will look to Alif Mat Amin, who scored eight goals across Circuit 8 alone, to provide a much-needed response after being kept quiet by JDT.

With little to separate the sides in the table, and next to nothing riding on the outcome for the hosts beyond form and confidence heading into the knockout stages, this looks a more open contest than the placings suggest. For Terengganu, though, there is real urgency: victory, and a favour from KL City's opponents, is the only route left into the top four before the play-offs begin.

Whatever happens, both sides go into the play-offs with the shape of the top six now all but settled below unbeaten leaders Selangor, whose own final match, away at KL City, is likely to have the last word on where fourth place ultimately lands.