By FRANCIS XAVIER
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Football Association (Safa) acting president Datuk Peter Anthony has made his intentions clear by wanting the stateside to go for a top-two finish in the Premier League 2019 campaign. The new Safa Supremo knows it is a tall order, but believes it is within their reach if everyone works towards the same objective, particularly the players.
The no-nonsense Peter said gaining promotion to the country’s elite football competition, the Super League, in 2020, will be their top priority in the upcoming season. He added that despite a slow and difficult start to the squad’s pre-season, it will not stop the team, now known as Tambadau, from mounting a strong challenge in the country’s second-tier competition.
“Our preparations for the new season were affected by various factors including various changes in the Safa administration. However, I am sure through close collaboration between the management and coaching staff as well as the existing players, we will be able to pose a strong challenge this new season.
“The target is for Sabah to win promotion to the Super League,” he said, at the official launching of the Sabah 2019 squad jersey and introduction of the players at a local hotel here yesterday. He said their preparations have been going on smoothly despite some minor hiccups including the search for foreign players.
Serbian forward Rodoljub Paunovic is the only foreign player in the team at the moment as he has a contract until the middle of the year. South Korean defender Park Tae Su who was also at the function is likely to put pen to paper any day now. Two unidentified foreign players were also present, but the two foreign hopefuls will have to strut their stuff to impress the head coach Jelius Ating if they harbour donning Tambadau’s colours.
“We will make an announcement (on new foreign imports) soon. At the moment there are several candidates from South Korea, Brazil and Indonesia undergoing trials but we need to further assess them,” said Peter. Meanwhile, Carino a local brand by Ararat Sports & Souvenir Sdn Bhd will be Sabah’s official jersey for the third year running. Ararat Sports & Souvenir Sdn Bhd was represented by its managing director Ben Wong at the launching of the jersey.
