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| TALL ORDER … Sabah’s Brendan Gan (red) is being challenged by Mohd Muhaimin Omar of Terengganu during the Super League tie at the Likas Stadium on Saturday. |
The star-studded East Coast side have an assailable lead at the top of the 14-team standings with 57 points in their bag from 24 matches, and ahead of second placed Lions XII by seven points with only two matches to play in the season. But while it’s all celebrations for Kelantan, Sabah on the other hand are heading the wrong direction.
The 1-3 defeat to Terengganu (on Saturday) have left them with no other alternative but to win their remaining two matches to stand any chance of staying in the Super League. Failing to get maximum points against Selangor (on Tuesday away) and Negeri Sembilan (on Saturday – home) will see them making a return to the Premier League barely after two seasons in the top flight action.
Sabah were fortunate that Kedah are suffering a same fate as them after losing 0-2 to Negeri Sembilan on the same night or else it could have ended Sabah’s fighting chance of staying top at least for the moment. Nevertheless, on paper, Kedah still have an edge over Sabah, having had a better goal deficit than the latter. Kedah will play away to Perak and home to KL Felda United FC in their final two games. But with Sabah’s poor away record, where they are yet to pick up a single win away from home this season, it is a clear indication that they may not win the battle for survival.
Among the teams in the relegation dogfight, they have the slimmest of chances. Thus this gives us the impression that they are the team to accompany Kuala Lumpur on the way down to the country’s second tier league. However, with rumours that the FA of Malaysia is set to reduce the Super League team to 12 teams from 14 this season, even finishing above 13th placing is still not safe for Sabah or any other team.
The rumours is that the top nine teams will remain in the Super League plus a guest team – Singapore’s Lions XII. One slot will go to the Premier League 2012 champion (Armed Forces) and the last slot will be fought between teams finishing in 10th, 11th, 12th in the Super League and the runners up of the Premier League via a playoff.
The winner takes the one slot to complete the 12-team Super League 2013. For Sabah to finish in ninth placing this season is already out of the question, and the Sabah FA is paying a heavy price for not being able to get the right man to replace head coach Justin Ganai who was removed from the post last month.
Instead, they took a gamble and let rookie assistant coach Andrew Majanggim take over the reign in which after the last five matches the team registered two wins and three defeats, which will not be good enough for Sabah to survive!
