New Sabah Times
KOTA KINABALU: The semi-finals of the Safa Cup grand finals 2018 is expected to be a mouth-watering affair. The last four encounters will be happening at two venues – the Likas Stadium and Penampang Stadium – today. Both matches are scheduled to kick off at 3pm.
Interestingly, this time around, all the semi-finalists start with the alphabet K, namely Keningau, Kota Kinabalu, Kota Belud and Kinabatangan.
The first semi-final will see Keningau, who emerged as Group A winners, take on Group B runners-up, Kota Belud. The tie will be played at the Likas Stadium while the other semis, which will be held at the Penampang Stadium, is between Group B winners, Kota Kinabalu and Group A runners-up Kinabatangan.
Keningau team manager Rafee Robert hopes his side will be able to put up a good show against Kota Belud.
Despite entering the knockout stage since the zone level tournament until in the group stage of the grand finals with an unbeaten record, he refused to brag on their fine run, insisting there is no reason for them to take their opponents lightly.
After all, he pointed out, this time almost 90 per cent of their players are new faces.
Rafee is also aware that Kota Belud are a good side, who are also still unbeaten in the tournament.
“I hope the players will give everything in the tie. For me, it is not only about victory. I want them to do well and play well in order for them to get selected for the state teams,” said Rafee.
“If our players can play to their true strength, I’m quite optimistic we will make it into the final tomorrow (Saturday),” he added.
For the record, in the Group A campaign, Keningau, who qualified into the grand finals after winning the Interior Upper zone tournament, won their opening two matches against Sipitang and Kinabatangan with identical scorelines of 1-0 and drew two-all with Kuala Penyu in their final group tie.
On the other hand, Kota Belud also ended their campaign with an unbeaten record, registering one win and two draws.
They drew one-all with Kota Belud and 0-0 with Tawau. They defeated Kota Marudu 1-0. As for Kota Kinabalu, they booked their semi-final ticket rather controversially.
If not for their protest, they could have finished third behind Tawau and Kota Belud.
They lost 2-1 against Tawau. However, following their protest, Tawau were docked three points, while Kota Kinabalu were given a 3-0 win that eventually saw them finish top ahead of Kota Belud and Tawau, who dropped to third. On the other hand, Kinabatangan recorded two wins and one defeat. They edged Kuala Penyu 1-0 in the opener before suffering a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Keningau.
They blanked Sipitang 2-0 in the final fixture. – FRANCIS XAVIER
