New Sabah Times
KOTA KINABALU: It’s back to business for the Sabah Rhinos as they resumed training after a short Christmas break in preparing for the Malaysian League 2015 campaign.
Yesterday, star man El Hadji Diouf and Libyan striker Eamon Zayed were seen with the rest of their team-mates at the team’s training at the Likas Stadium with former Hull City defender Abdoulaye Faye and Singapore’s Fazrul Nawaz the only absentees.
Manager George O’Callaghan when met said that he is expecting Fazrul to join the rest of the team today, while Faye in the next few days.
O’Callaghan has about six weeks or so left in preparing the team ahead of the new season, which is only expected to kick off on February 7, 2015.
The delay in the kick-off, which was initially scheduled for January 16, has actually put O’Callaghan’s plan slightly off the radar.
The Sabah Rhinos even took part in a tournament in Yunnan China and played two friendlies in Peninsular Malaysia early this month, before they found out about the change to the date of the kick-off.
But despite the minor setback, the delay is actually good news for O’Callaghan as now he has more time in fine-tuning his new-look side that is yet to find the right rhythm.
O’Callaghan is hoping to get his to team play more competitive matches ahead of the kick-off.
He is looking at six more matches, including the one against Sarawak in Kuching on January 11.
“I just hope we can play another five or six matches against a good side. We are working on that now and are trying to bring in teams from outside to play here apart for the game against Sarawak,” he said.
