By FRANCIS XAVIER
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Rhinos will have to do without its striker-in-chief Rodoljub Paunovic when they take on top sides from the Philippines Football League (PFL) during their pre-season friendly in Manila, this week. The Serbian will not be part of the travelling squad that will leave the state capital this evening. Paunovic, who is Sabah Rhinos’ sole foreign players in the team at the moment, is said to be suffering from a minor injury and that head coach Jelius Ating is not willing to take the risk as their season opener is just around the corner when they return home from the five-day trip on Friday (Jan 25).
Jelius has named a small squad of 19 players for the trip where they will be playing two friendly matches during their stay in the Philippines’ capital. Surprisingly, a Korean defender, Taesu Park, who is still on trial with the team, has been included in the travelling list. The rest of the 18 players are locals namely Rozaimie Rohim, Robson Rendy Rining, Mohd Azizan Nordin, Justin Samaan, Rawilson Batuil, Ummareng Bacok, Ricco Nigel Milus, Jenius Karib, Dendy Lowa, Mafry Balang, Randy Baruh Samson, Maxsius Musa, Sabri Sahar, Evan Wensley Wenceslaus, Mohd Azwan Abd Fattah, Rahman Shah Marajeh, Melky Balang and Elias Sulaiman. Without Paunovic, Jelius will be short in numbers as far as his attacking option is concerned. Rahman Shah Marajeh is the only striker making the trip.
But they do have a few attacking minded players travelling such as Maxsius, Justin as well as Mohd Azwan. However, these players are mostly deployed at either side of the flanks. Sabah Rhinos first test will be against Stalion FC at the Binan Stadium on Jan 22. Stalion FC finished fourth in the PFL, which is Philippines’ top division, last season. Their second match is against Kaya FC, who finished as runners up in PFL last season, on Jan 24.
The match will be played at the Philippines Football Federation training centre field at San Lazaro Leisure and Business Park in Carmona, Cavite. “Since this is our only competitive pre-season friendlies, so it is important for us to make full use of this trip to prepare the team for the new season. “I won’t really be looking into the results. For me, the most important thing now is how far we have prepared ourselves so that we know what needs to be rectified when we return home.” When asked on the possibility of his side having only one foreign player when they kick off their campaign against Johor Darul Ta’zim II at the Likas Stadium on February 2, Jelius said, they need to prepare themselves for all the possibilities.
For the record, the deadline to register foreign players is on February 20. “We will be at a disadvantage if we do not have all our four foreign players in the team ahead of the kickoff. But then again, last season we were short of one foreign player when we kicked off our campaign. Then, we were playing with all the local defenders and we still managed to kick off our season on a positive note. “The most important thing now is to focus on what we have … and need to be ready for any possibilities. So now, that’s the reason why we focus on our local players in this trip so that we can assess the strength and weaknesses of the team,” said Jelius. On a positive note, Jelius said the good thing is that … the majority of the local players are from last year’s squad. “Except for foreign players, we are having familiar faces among the locals and this makes it easier for us to prepare the team,” said Jelius.
