By FRANCIS XAVIER
SANDAKAN: Jelius Ating will parade a mixed side when they take on PPLM Bina Sentra of Indonesia in a friendly at the Likas Stadium tonight.
Kick off time is at 8pm. The Sabah Rhinos head coach said he is likely to parade the usual faces to team up with some hopefuls, who are currently on trials with the team.
“I’ll be using the match to have a good look at the hopefuls who are currently attending trials with the team, including the foreign players, where we have two at the moment,” said Jelius, referring to Brazilian striker Geison Moura and Ivory Coast attacker Ballo Famoussa, who just arrived last night.
As for Spaniard, Alain Eizagirre, who arrived together with Moura, he has left the state after failing to impress Jelius. Jelius also revealed that they are currently in talks with two former state players Mafry Balang and Ronny Harun.
“The offer is already on the table, and now the ball is in their court (Mafry and Ronny).
We just have to wait for their reply, but I really hope, things will end well for both parties,” Jelius said.
Mafry and Ronny, both 33, who left Sabah at the end of the 2012 season, have been playing for numerous teams in the M-League where Mafry donned Penang colours in the 2017 season while Ronny was with Sarawak.
Jelius said Mafry has been with the team for almost three weeks now, while Ronny has attended training since Thursday.
“It is good to see they are training with the team. In fact, this is a positive sign, but until they put pen to paper, we just cannot say that they are our players,” Jelius said.
On the foreign imports side, Jelius said he is looking for a striker to complete his four foreign quota signing after retaining South Koreans Lee Gil Hoon and Heo Jaenyeong and Croatian defender Igor Cerina.
