Daily Express
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Football Association (Safa) are constantly searching for quality players especially the locals to beef up the senior squad.
Safa's newly set-up team management committee chairman Joehari Ayob made the call on Tuesday and he said one of their jobs is to concentrate on looking for new talents throughout the country that will fit into the team and make them stronger.
"The squad we have now is not permanent and there is an open window where we can change the players if we find it fit to do so."
"It is an ongoing process and we will not stop looking for quality players to try to improve the squad through out the season."
"Our priority is of course to look for locals and also based on our capability as we have a limited budget unlike some other teams.
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He stressed that the setting up of the committee is not merely for the coming season but also for the future.
"At the moment we only identify players mostly through competitions and to widen our avenue, the committee will draw up a blue print so that people like myself will go down to the 'kampungs' more frequently and try to identify the players that have the potentials."
Meanwhile, coach Milomir Seslija said the local junior players that are currently in the team need time to fulfill their potentials.
"People like Sabri Sahar, Dendy Lowa, Maxius Musa, Didie Arizal, Shahrul Chungkai and Rex Petrus are all good players and have the potential to go far."
"However, we have to be patient with them as they are still relatively raw and consistency is the main key."
He said it is easier said than done by putting any good junior players in the State team and expecting them to flourish.
"The public must understand that there is a huge difference playing for the senior team as there will be a great deal of pressure especially for the young players and not even some of the seniors can cope on the big stage."
"Many of these young players are good technically but they need to learn more on their movement off the ball as all players nowadays need to move constantly and they must be able to combine agility, coordination and technique in their game."
He said he will give as much support as he can to these players by playing them in more matches if possible.
"We cannot simply discard them when they make one or two mistakes as what I had heard before.
They are young and they need guidance and who knows in the coming months, they will develop into top class players and that will be a gain for Sabah."
